4
December 2018
For
almost 50 years, the highly threatened West African giraffe has been absent
from Niger's Gadabedji Biosphere Reserve.
Illegal
hunting, climate change and habitat loss have all contributed to the
population's decline.
An ambitious
conservation initiative has now re-introduced eight giraffes into the reserve,
in the first conservation effort of its kind for the West African subspecies.
Under the
initiative, spearheaded by the Nigerien authorities, the eight giraffes were
captured in the country's Giraffe Zone, a government-defined region
approximately 60km (37 miles) south-east of the capital, Niamey.
Until
this move, the world's last West African giraffes had only been found in and
near this Giraffe Zone.
There,
West African giraffes share their habitat with local communities, and compete
with them for space and natural resources.
The
animals face a number of threats, including human population growth, hunting
and agricultural encroachment.
Giraffes
have now started to migrate out of the Giraffe Zone as a result of the growing
population of both humans and giraffes themselves.
As a
result, the animals have come into conflict with humans who are not used to
their presence, and also stray into restive areas on the border with Mali.
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