In August, an SGN team comprised of Aggrey Chemwa (Head of Research), and Kayla Walisch (Director of Operations), and myself visited Uganda with our partner Uganda Conservation Foundation (UCF) to find additional ways to help critically endangered Nubian giraffe (previously known as Rothschild’s giraffe) in this landscape. There are currently only around 3,000 Nubian giraffe remaining in the wild, and most of these live in Uganda.
Our first stop was Murchison Falls National Park, which is home to over 2,000 giraffe. High levels of poaching in the park have become very concerning. The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) patrols the park daily with the support of community scouts and removes large quantities of snares and traps to help protect wildlife.
This pile of snares to the left was collected by UWA in just one month.
As a short-term aid to helping mitigate this problem, SGN funded repairs of two anti-poaching boats to get them back patrolling the Nile River. This reduces the ability of poachers to cross the river and place snares at night.
SGN is also in the process of purchasing additional dart guns to support the UWA veterinarians to remove snares from giraffe and other wildlife.
SGN supported repairs for two of these anti-poaching boats in Murchison Falls National Park.
We then visited Kidepo Valley National Park where approximately 150 Nubian giraffe live. This park shares a border with South Sudan, and it has a continual threat from armed poaching. We saw a large herd of giraffe with calves, including a large bull giraffe with distinctive markings named Innocent in honor of Innocent who manages UCFs projects in Kidepo and the region.
Innocent the Giraffe with his distinctive neck marking in Kidepo Valley National Park
To help keep Innocent the Giraffe and his family from leaving the park for water during the dry seasons, our team is working with UCF to restore and possibly create a new waterhole within the park. The improvement will help prevent giraffe from entering community lands, as well as South Sudan where they are high risk of being poached.
All of us at Save Giraffes Now send a huge thank you to our global community of Giraffe Friends and supporters for helping Save Giraffes Now ensure a future for wild giraffe.
Best wishes,
Liza Dadone, VMD
Head Veterinarian and
Uganda Country Manager
Support Save Giraffes Now
A huge thank you to all of our current donors for your continued support in making projects like these and so much more possible. If you have not contributed this year, we humbly ask you consider a donation to this vital work. Even $10 per month makes a huge difference!
Save Giraffes Now has made great progress in our giraffe conservation efforts; however, there is much work left to do. Please join us in our fight to ensure giraffe can live freely and safely in their native Africa for generations to come.
As always, 100% of your donation goes directly to our projects on-the-ground in Africa.
Other Ways to Support Save Giraffes Now
Shop Park Lane Park Lane Jewelry is all about giving back! A full 50% of the fundraiser sales will be donated to SGN.
Upgrade your Hydration Bottle Giraffe Bottle designed a limited-edition bottle and a portion of every bottle’s sale goes directly to SGN projects.
Need a New Shirt or Hoodie? Oysters Clothing donates 10% of proceeds of their giraffe t-shirts and hoodies to Save Giraffes Now!Â
