An ultra-rare white female giraffe and her calf have been killed in Kenya and the entire wildlife community is in tears.
According to official reports, rangers found the bodies of the white female giraffe and her calf in a village in north-eastern Kenya’s Garissa County.
This news is just sad.
One other white giraffe, a male, that is also the son of the white giraffe is still alive and is believed to be the only remaining white giraffe in the entire world.
The Garissa County Conservation Center confirmed the news.
On a post that they made on March 10, 2020, the officials confirmed the deaths.
According to reports, the body of the mother giraffe was in a skeletal state after it was killed by armed poachers.
Mohammed Ahmednoor, the manager of the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, said:
This is a very sad day for the community of Ijara and Kenya as a whole. We are the only community in the world who are custodians of the white giraffe. Its killing is a blow to tremendous steps taken by the community to conserve rare and unique species, and a wake up call for continued support to conservation efforts. This is a long term loss given that genetics studies and research which were significant investment into the area by researchers, has now gone to the drain.
It was said at the time that tourism in the area will take a huge hit.
A lot of tourists were coming to the area in order to witness and take pictures of the extremely rare white giraffes.
In 2017, the white giraffe made headlines over the world after it was discovered.
The giraffes have a condition known as “leucism”. This condition causes partial loss of pigmentation in an animal.
Authorities also believed that the calf of the mother passed away due to hunger after the mother passed away following being hunted by poachers.
Let’s just hope the people that carried out the horrible attacks will get caught and will be sentenced to something that would help put down poaching in the country.