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NigerNew relocation of giraffes threatened with extinction
In Niger, four peralta giraffes were taken to a reserve, where they were released on Wednesday morning. This species has disappeared from the rest of the planet.
These relocations to Niger aim to better protect these peralta giraffes (here in a reserve, in France), a species with light spots, which has already disappeared from the rest of the planet.
AFP
Four peralta giraffes, a rare species, have been moved to Niger, from the Kouré region, where they are threatened, to the Gadabedji reserve, four years following an initial relocation of ten animals. “Four females were captured on November 11, in Kouré, and have already been transported to the Gadabedji reserve”, 600 km further east, said Commander Lamine Saïdou, an official of the Nigerien water and forest services in the Koure area.
The transport of the giraffes was done by road, in “well-equipped containers”, and “went well”, he assured. They were released on Wednesday morning. The operation, the cost of which has not been specified, was carried out with, in particular, the support of experts from the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF), a wildlife protection NGO.
three births
This is the second operation of this kind, following the one carried out in November 2018, where ten giraffes – seven females and three males – living in Kouré, had been transferred, already to Gadabedji, a huge reserve located in the Maradi region. Three of the seven females have since given birth to three giraffes, between March and November 2022, according to Niger’s environment ministry.
These relocations aim to better protect these peralta giraffes, a species with light spots, already extinct from the rest of the planet, and which, fleeing poachers and predators, had found a haven of peace, in the bush of Kouré, 60 km from the capital, Niamey.
From 50 to over 900
Under the protection of local people and NGOs, these large mammals, which attracted many tourists, have multiplied in this sanctuary of shrubs and stony ground. From 50 in 1996, the number of giraffes was estimated at 612 in 2017, then at 904 in 2021, according to official figures.
However, tourists have deserted this area since the assassination, in August 2020, by the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara, of six French humanitarian workers, their guide and their driver, both from Niger, who were visiting the area.
The relocation of some of the Kouré giraffes is made necessary by the gradual destruction of their habitat, caused by the advance of the desert and the conquest of new agricultural land. The animals were also the cause of several road accidents, crossing the axes of this region near the capital, to the chagrin of trucks and buses. Some relocated giraffes are equipped with chips, in order to better monitor their movements.
(AFP)