Heartbreaking photos have captured the impact of Kenya’s drought on the country’s giraffe population. One photo, in particular, has been widely shared online – it shows six giraffes lying dead inside Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy in Wajir. The photo was reportedly taken after the giraffes, weak from lack of food and water, died after they “got stuck in the mud as they tried to drink from a nearly dried-up reservoir nearby.”
Their bodies were moved to a different location where the photograph was taken. The bodies were moved to prevent contamination of reservoir water.
According to Al Jazeera, much of Kenya’s north has received less than 30 percent of normal rainfall since September, leading to an intense drought in the region. The lack of rainfall has had a devastating impact on the region’s wildlife and exacerbated food and water shortages, besides pushing pastoralist communities and their livestock to the brink.
But Ibrahim Ali, from the Bour-Algi giraffe sanctuary, says that wild animals are most at risk. “Domesticated animals were being assisted but not wildlife, and now they are suffering,” Mr. Ali told local news website The Star. He said that farming activities along the river have blocked giraffes from accessing water, worsening the situation.
Another photo shows the assistant chief of Eyrib village, Abdi Karim, looking at the bodies of six giraffes that lie on the outskirts of Eyrib village in Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy. The photograph was taken on December 10. The report in The Star said that 4,000 giraffes in nearby Garissa county were at risk of being wiped out because of the drought.
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the drought a national disaster in September. Meanwhile, Kenya’s National Drought Management Authority last week announced an Emergency Relief Cash Transfer Program for 2.5 million people affected by the drought.
