Threats to Giraffes & Giraffe Conservation

[Lisbeth]

They even mentioned it in TV yesterday

[Mel]

Here too and it's all over Google News articles

[Lisbeth]

BY THE WIRE STAFF - 29 MARCH 2018 - THE WIRE

Giraffe numbers have plunged by 40% in the last three decades thanks to habitat loss and poaching.

In 2016, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shifted the conservation status of giraffes from species of “least concern” to “vulnerable”. It seems that in all of six years, the gentle giants had gone from a state of low or no concern to being just four steps away from a complete wipeout.

The population of giraffes dropped from over 157,000 in 1985 to around 97,500 in 2015 – a 40% drop in three decades. The IUCN Red List identified four major threats to giraffe populations: habitat loss, recreational killing, civil unrest and ecological changes.

Giraffes are commonly poached for their tails. Congolese populations consider the tail to be a status symbol, used as dowry while asking for a girl’s hand in marriage. Some tribes are also known to kill these animals for meat. However, poaching for body parts, which is different, remains one of the biggest threats to their survival. Apart from tails, illegal trade in giraffe marrow, touted to cure AIDS, has also contributed to their decline.

The US is the biggest importer of hunting trophies from giraffes, according to The Guardian. A majority of trophy hunters also originate from the US. According to American conservationists, residents imported “21,402 bone carvings, 3,008 skin pieces and 3,744 miscellaneous trophies from giraffes”. For this, they estimated at least 3,700 individuals would have had to be killed.

On the back of this data, the group urged the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017 to provide ‘endangered species’ protection to giraffes, a move that will restrict the import of any giraffe trophies except when the hunter can prove that the trophy helped sustain the giraffe population.

Habitat loss due to deforestation, land use conversion, agricultural activities, mining activities and human settlements are the biggest threats to giraffe populations. Additionally, civil wars and unrest, as in countries like Sudan, have affected their numbers as well.

Remedying population loss

Giraffe populations are found primarily in eastern and southern Africa, and in smaller numbers in western and central parts of the continent. However, they have gone extinct in seven African countries that they used to call their home.

Additionally, the number of giraffe species is contested. While the IUCN recognises only one species + nine subspecies, other groups led by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation recognise four species + four subspecies. The IUCN Red List reported that of the nine subspecies, those belonging to four are become more numerous, those belonging to a different four less so, while one subspecies has had a stable population.

Two subspecies account for over half the total giraffe population. However, their population growth rates make for a study in contrast: the number of Nubian giraffes fell by 97% between 1982 and 2015 while the number of Angolan giraffes increased by 167% in the same period.

One species (or subspecies) offers some hope: in 1996, only 50 West African giraffes were alive in Niger. Heavy poaching and habitat loss had resulted in a drastic decline of their population. The Niger government, acting to prevent their extinction, created and enforced strict regulations against poaching. Conservation groups acted to supplement the government’s efforts, educating people about the importance of giraffes and implementing microloans for people to encourage them to live in a ‘pro-giraffe’ manner. By 2009, West African giraffe numbers had swelled by 400%.

Derek Lee, who contributed to the Red List report, told the New York Times that habitat loss and poaching are “equally dangerous threats that vary in degree from place to place”. He stressed that both will have to be addressed equally if giraffe populations have to be kept from going extinct. Lee also admitted that habitat loss was a bigger problem than poaching.

A relocation effort

The habitat of the 1,000-odd Rothschild’s giraffes, a subspecies, in Uganda sits on nearly 75% of the country’s known oil reserves. A team led by Julian Fennessy, a biologist and founder of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, made efforts to shift some 20 of them to the other side of the Nile river in the hope that they would establish themselves there.

The team of scientists and veterinarians made efforts to tranquilise, tag, and transport these animals across the river. Apart from the risk of delivering near-lethal doses of tranquilisers, the team also had to worry about the strength of the animals – each of which weighed nearly a tonne – and injuries that they might inflict on the team and themselves while anaesthetised.

Once shifted to the new site, the 18 animals were tagged with satellite collars. Fennessey and his team were then able to observe that these animals travelled hundreds of kilometres from their point of introduction, exploring their habitat.

According to Fennessy, “Whilst giraffes are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people – including conservationists – are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction. As one of the world’s most iconic animals, it is time that we stick our neck out for the giraffe before it is too late”.

Read original article: https://thewire.in/environment/the-quie ... st-mammals

[Lisbeth]

Tall order to save the giraffe

BY ANDREAS WILSON-SPATH - 21 APRIL 2019 - SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

WILL giraffes survive humanity? They are as iconic as lions, rhinos and elephants and their long-term existence in the wild is under similar threat. However, the world’s tallest animals get much less public attention or protection.

Giraffes are in decline in many parts of Africa as a result of habitat loss due to humans, but what many people don’t know is that the species is also being driven towards extermination by two types of hunters: those who are so poor, they kill for food, and those who are so rich, they kill for so-called sport.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), giraffe numbers have dropped precipitously in the past three decades, plummeting by 36% to 40% from about 157 000 in 1985 to about 97 500 in 2015, of which there are only an estimated 68 000 mature individuals.

Francois Deacon of the University of Free State says, “the threat of wipe out of the species of long-necked mammals is a reality in various parts of Africa. “In 30 years, you will probably not see giraffes in the rest of Africa. That is how quickly things could change. You will see them in captivity in southern Africa and in zoos, but in the rest of Africa, you will not see giraffe.”

The IUCN recognises nine distinct giraffe subspecies in fragmented populations across Africa, some of which appear to be stable while others are in decline. Its famous Red List of threatened species currently classifies two subspecies as “critically endangered” (the same status as the black rhino and the eastern lowland gorilla), one as “endangered” and the species as a whole as “vulnerable”.

David Kabambo, executive director of Peace for Conservation in Tanzania, has interviewed wildlife rangers and retired poachers who shared their accounts of giraffes being killed for the bush meat trade.

Kabambo cites game wardens who have told him that the giraffe is favoured by poachers “because it has a lot of meat on the carcass. Meat from one giraffe can be equal to the meat you get from four elands”.

There is an even more sinister aspect to the local trade in giraffe “products”. Kabambo says that “about 10 years ago, herbal medicine practitioners in Tanzania started touting giraffe bone marrow and brains as a way to protect people from, or even cure, HIV/Aids”. He believes that this has driven up prices for giraffe parts and has made poaching more lucrative, with heads and bones fetching up to $140 (R1 955) each at local markets.

According to Christian Kiffner of The School for Field Studies, who has surveyed bush meat consumption patterns in Tanzania’s Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, “giraffe poaching for meat is still happening in this area”.

Given the species’ vulnerable status, the scale of commercial giraffe trophy hunting, most of which occurs in southern Africa, is astonishing and deeply concerning.

According to research by Humane Society International (HSI), nearly 40 000 giraffe products derived from at least 3 751 individual animals were imported to the US between 2006 and 2015. South Africa was the biggest export country during this period by far. As many as 95% of all individual
giraffes imported to the US were killed by trophy hunters and more than
60% of those came from South Africa.

Last year, an undercover HSI investigation revealed a widespread and unregulated market in more than 50 US locations offering everything from giraffe-bone pistol grips and knife handles to giraffe skin jackets, rugs, pillow cases, boots, duffel bags and bible covers. They also discovered that at least two of the sellers of giraffe products have previous convictions for trafficking in rhino horn.

Motivated by the species’ declining numbers and its vulnerability to overexploitation by hunters, HSI, together with other conservation organisations petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017 to list the giraffe as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. In the absence of a response, the petitioners have sued the US government for its failure to help protect giraffes in the wild.

The global trade in giraffe trophies and their parts continues unabated, because the species is not protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).

During the next major Cites meeting, which takes place in Sri Lanka next month, several African countries, including Kenya, Chad, Senegal, Niger
and Mali have proposed to have the giraffe included in Appendix II of Cites, which would afford it some protection by instituting limited control over trade. While this measure would not ban international trade outright, it would put in place some safeguards to monitor it, ensuring that it is not detrimental to the survival of the species and that all traded giraffe parts were legally acquired (not derived from poached giraffes).

Sadly, this initiative is likely to be opposed by the big giraffe exporters, led by South Africa, who are concerned about the threat to a profitable revenue stream.

Activists like Kabambo know that strong legal interventions combined with efforts to lift local communities out of poverty result in positive impacts for both human and giraffe populations. Between 2016 and last year, Kabambo and his colleagues have managed to convince 30 illegal hunters to surrender their snares and guns, turning them from poachers into conservationists.

Kiffner advocates a holistic strategy to counter poaching that would include increased law enforcement to raise the odds of poachers getting caught and making bush meat more expensive, education programmes to change people’s attitudes to bush meat consumption and the creation of alternative job opportunities. “Almost all poachers I have interviewed said they’d stop poaching if they had alternative means of income.”

[Lisbeth]

Press Release: Lawsuit Prompts U.S. Officials to Consider Protecting Giraffes

BY HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL/THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES - 25 APRIL 2019 - PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON— After a prod from a lawsuit filed by conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that giraffes may qualify for protection under America’s Endangered Species Act.

The 2018 lawsuit — brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, Humane Society of the United States, and the Natural Resources Defense Council — seeks a response to their April 2017 legal petition for Endangered Species Act protection for giraffes. The species is gravely imperiled by habitat loss and fragmentation, civil unrest and overhunting, as well as the international trade in bone carvings, skins, and trophies.

The United States provides a large market for giraffe parts: More than 21,400 bone carvings, 3,000 skin pieces and 3,700 hunting trophies were imported over the past decade. Limiting U.S. import and trade would give giraffes important protections, and an ESA listing would also help provide critical funding for conservation work in Africa.

“The U.S. on average imports more than one giraffe trophy a day, and thousands of giraffe parts are sold domestically each year,” said Anna Frostic, attorney for the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. “The federal government must now expeditiously take stock of the role we are playing in giraffe decline and how we can work to instead save these unique animals.”

Africa’s giraffe population has plunged nearly 40 percent in the past 30 years. It now stands at just over 97,000 individuals.

“This is a big step toward protecting giraffes from the growing use of their bones by U.S. gun and knife makers,” said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s disgusting that it took a lawsuit to prompt the Trump administration to act. Saving everyone’s favorite long-necked animal from extinction should have been the easiest call in the world.”

With fewer giraffes than elephants left in Africa, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature elevated the threat level to giraffes from “least concern” to “vulnerable” on its “Red List of Threatened Species” in 2016. That finding was confirmed in 2018 along with a critically endangered assessment of two giraffe subspecies and an endangered assessment for another.

“The United States has long been complicit in the trade of giraffe parts, so it’s time for the federal government to stick its neck out for this species,” said Elly Pepper with NRDC. “The United States has taken action to help staunch the trade of numerous species in trouble. Sadly, now it is time to take action to ensure giraffes remain on the planet. They need Endangered Species Act protections and they need them now.”

Known for their six-foot-long necks, distinctive patterning and long eyelashes, giraffes have captured the human imagination for centuries. New research recently revealed that they live in complex societies, much like elephants, and have unique physiological traits, including the highest blood pressure of any land mammal.

The IUCN currently recognizes one species of giraffes and nine subspecies: West African, Kordofan, Nubian, reticulated, Masai, Thornicroft’s, Rothchild’s, Angolan and South African. The legal petition seeks an endangered listing for the whole species.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has 12 months to decide whether Endangered Species Act listing is warranted.

For photos/video of the HSUS/HSI 2018 undercover investigation into the sale of giraffe parts CLICK HERE.

Contacts:

Rodi Rosensweig, Humane Society International/The Humane Society of the United States, (203) 270-8929,rrosensweig@humanesociety.org

Daniela Arellano, Natural Resources Defense Council, (310) 434-2304, darellano@nrdc.org

Tanya Sanerib, Center for Biological Diversity, (206) 379-7363, tsanerib@biologicaldiversity.org

Subscribe to Kitty Block’s blog, A Humane World. Follow the HSUS Media Relations department on Twitter for the latest animal welfare news.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation’s largest animal protection organization, rated most effective by our peers. For 60 years, we have celebrated the protection of all animals and confronted all forms of cruelty. We are the nation’s largest provider of hands-on services for animals, caring for more than 100,000 animals each year, and we prevent cruelty to millions more through our advocacy campaigns. Read more about our 60 years of transformational change for animals, and visit us online at humanesociety.org.

Humane Society International and its partner organizations together constitute one of the world’s largest animal protection organizations. For more than 25 years, HSI has been working for the protection of all animals through the use of science, advocacy, education and hands on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty worldwide — on the Web athsi.org.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.4 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us atwww.nrdc.organd follow us on Twitter@NRDC

[Lisbeth]

Who would ever have thought so The numbers are impressive

[Lisbeth]

Gentle giraffes threatened with 'silent extinction'

2019-08-17 13:48

phpBB [video]

In Kenya, as across Africa, populations of the world's tallest mammals are quietly, yet sharply, in decline. Giraffe numbers across the continent fell 40 percent between 1985 and 2015, to just under 100,000 animals, according to the best figures a...

In Kenya, as across Africa, populations of the world's tallest mammals are quietly, yet sharply, in decline. Giraffe numbers across the continent fell 40% between 1985 and 2015, to just under 100 000 animals.

https://www.news24.com/Green/News/watch ... n-20190816

[Flutterby]

The Rhino Orphanage
17 November at 22:24 ·
* New Arrival of a different kind *

We were contacted two days ago by a landowner in our area to assist with a giraffe calf that was left abandoned by its mother. Very dehydrated and weak it was evident that the little one was only about 2 - 3 days old. The owner has no idea why mom left him behind and we are hoping that their is nothing internally wrong with the little one.

Our vet dr Pierre placed an IV catheter and we started administering TPN (intravenous food) immediately. The baby was very comatose for the first 18 hours but started showing signs of waking up. Further IV fluids were administered and it seems like the little boy is getting stronger. He managed to stand up a few times with the help of our carers and walked around this evening on very unsure legs. Baby giraffes are notorious for being labour intensive and difficult to get on a bottle. And Jazz has proved no different. Their height (about 1.8m) also doesnt make it any easier. But we have a few tricks up our sleeves that will hopefully pay off.

[Richprins]

[Flutterby]

The Rhino Orphanage
18 November at 07:20 ·
* Update on Jazz *

It has been a long night but things are looking up. Jazz just slowly sucked on his first bottle of milk at 7am this morning. He kept on falling asleep between bouts of sucking but what a fantastic start to the day One sleepy, content little giraffe

Our anti-poaching and security dog, Hunter has fallen head over heals for the little giraffe and has claimed ownership since Jazz's arrival. He stays in the room all day with Jazz and the carers and doesn't allow his brother Duke close. So concerned was Hunter about Jazz when he was in a coma that he did not want to eat. No that baby is doing better Hunter has his appetite back too. What a special animal he is and so proud to have him on our Team