SILENT EXTINCTION:GIRAFFES THAT ARE LOST IN WANDERLAND

THE WORLD’S TALLEST LAND MAMMAL IS ENDANGERED

 

“Evolution is so creative. That’s how we got giraffes.”

– Kurt Vonnegut –

 

     They are so gracious animals, elegant and majestic but also very cute. We can look at them and smile with no reason. The world’s tallest land mammals have never done something wrong to people but people have done so much wrong to the  giraffes in last 30 years. We have made them vulnerable to extinction and today, on Wednesday, June 21,  on World Giraffe Day,  we are aware more than ever that conservation must do something urgent regarding this issue.

     We are running out the time because they are already placed on the Red List of endangered species. There are fewer than 100,000 left in wild and their number is dropping down rapidly due to the loss of habitat and illegal, so called trophy hunting.  International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns that the statistic is black not only for giraffes which population has been reduced up to 40% but also for other species that are also declared as endangered.  It seems that environmental problem is getting bigger and bigger and that there is no common agreement among countries how the global extinction crisis will be sorted out.

     According to the latest reports from IUCN, the burning case of giraffe’s extinction has come out as the product of human unlimited and aggressive colonization of natural habitats and wilderness:“Giraffes were once widespread across southern and eastern Africa with smaller sub-populations in west and central Africa.Numbers have declined from around 151,702 to 163,452 animals in 1985 to 97,562 individuals in 2015, the IUCN said, with a growing human population having a negative impact.” Those mammals are human-friendly oriented and they do not bother the people but they are bothered by people who want the areas that do not belong to them. Beside that, the advanced level of trophy hunting has had influence on giraffe’s life too. Just in recent years, on many social media, there were hundred of photos of sadistic trophy hunters that have posed by the killed giraffes. Someone would ask:Why hunters kill the totally harmless and innocent animals like giraffes? They are not hunters that kill for food, they are monstrous killers that kill for their own, sick pleasures and collect the souvenirs like the most famous serial killers, described in FBI expert analyses.

     What we need to keep in mind when we talk about the giraffe’s population is the fact that there are  nine subspecies and based on BBC wildlife report:“Of these, five have had falling populations, one has remained stable while three have grown. Different outcomes seem to be highly dependent on location.” The giraffe’s destiny is written depending on the certain geographic position. In the zones that are targeted with armed gangs and civil wars, the giraffes are paying the high price as the big animals that can feed the whole village. The species that are located in southern Africa have more peaceful life than those that live in in northern Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia in the border area with South Sudan. The mankind’s madness and political instability define the conservation policy and the chances for its recovery.

     Personally, I believe that something could be done and that could bring positive results. The hope is still there because the giraffes are beloved animals and they do not cause the damage to the people colonies. The only question is how it will be make the balance between human needs and the needs of the mentioned mammal? The both try to find their own place and to survive but humans have taken all for granted. In spite of rare animals dropped population, the people are producing themselves almost like microbes, especially in rural areas that are known for low level of reproductive culture. They cause the bigger pressure on the Earth’s resources and make a base for a big sixth mass extinction.

     The sustainable development must be set up as well as the reasonable conservation policy. In the areas where the human population is booming, the local staff should start education process and sharing the knowledge about the negative side of the unlimited number of people. That will target not only the animals and their habitat but also the life of the other people and their already minimal chances for normal existence. Everything is so connected and the reducing of animals because of the loss of their natural environments, lead us to the chain of the new emerging infectious diseases. As long as we keep pushing our primitive needs onto the nature, we will end up dying from dangerous like-Ebola viruses.

     The working project on protecting the giraffes has been started successfully in South Africa and could be used as a good example for other lands to do the same.Chris Ransom from the Zoological Society of London is sure that giraffes have the safe future if the rational conservation steps are following the recommendations of scientists  :”The success in keeping giraffe numbers high in Southern Africa has much to do with the management of game parks for tourists say experts, who believe that the extra attention that the IUCN listing will now attract will benefit the species.South Africa is a good example of how you can manage wildlife, there is a lot of moving of animals between different conservation areas, it is a very different scenario than in most of the rest of Africa.I think giraffes can survive, with the right conservation efforts, and we can ensure that the animals do live in the wild. There are a lot of cases of success in conservation. The giraffes could be one.”

     As I have always mentioned in many of y wildlife related articles, the nature and the human habitat must keep distance for a mutual benefit. What does it mean? The respect for space and species. If we think that we will manage to grab this Planet only for ourselves, we will definitely experience our own extinction because the Earth must be shared among all creatures that are supposed to be here. The human race is not and should not pretend it is the dominant because that dominance could only apply on our ignorance.

     The giraffes deserve their own free areas and people that will not poach them and kill for fun and posing photos as a confirmation of sadistic personality. The giraffes should be protected not only from the trophy hunters and illegal killers but also from the mankind’s appetite for wildlife destruction.

https://giraffeconservation.org/