Endangered Giraffes Trapped On An Island Had Experts Hatching A Wild Plan To Save Them

This moment is a big one for O’Connor and his team. This enormous giraffe that they’ve taken from Longicharo Island in Kenya is very special, as are the seven others that have been left behind. These animals are endangered, so conservationists need to do all they can to keep them safe. In this case, that means getting every single one of them off the island as quickly as possible.

These creatures are what we call Rothschild’s giraffes, an animal whose very existence is in an extremely precarious position today. With fewer than 3,000 of these remarkable creatures left across the entire African continent, we really can’t afford to lose any more. If things get worse, the whole subspecies might disappear from the Earth for good.

That’s why the stakes are so high for O’Connor – the president of Texas-based charity Save Giraffes Now – and the other conservationists. The sheer scale of the threat to the Rothschild’s giraffe subspecies means that drastic action is needed if this group of eight is to be saved from the perils of Longicharo Island. Disaster is quickly closing in on these animals.

There’s a tragic irony to the situation on Longicharo Island. Not long ago, conservationists had identified this place as a haven where Rothschild’s giraffes could thrive. But as things turned out, they couldn’t have been more wrong about that. The giraffes’ home is becoming more and more inhospitable with each passing day. Without intervention, they’ll lose their lives and their whole subspecies will be thrust ever closer towards extinction.

Of course, the giraffes themselves aren’t actually aware of any of this. They just want to protect themselves from people who they perceive to be a threat. That obviously makes the conservationists’ job really difficult and risky, but they have no other choice. They must go to extreme lengths if they’re going to be successful here.

Speaking to TV news network CNN in the wake of this December 2020 operation, O’Connor later explained why the giraffes had made it so difficult. He said, “They don’t know that you’re trying to help them. They think you’re a predator. So they’re really trying to work against you, which makes it even harder.”

Given how resistant the giraffes are to being moved, you might think that the natural solution would be to tranquilize them. Unfortunately, it just isn’t that simple. While that’s a great technique for transporting other wild animals like lions or rhinos, it doesn’t work as well for giraffes. They are, after all, unique creatures.

Speaking to the website Atlas Obscura, O’Connor laid out the issue. He said, “Once they’re down and horizontal, which is not a natural position for them, potentially they could choke on their own saliva. Or because of their unique blood flow system, basically their brain could explode because of the high pressure of the blood going to the brain.”

This was a problem that O’Connor and his colleagues really needed to figure out – and fast. They were in no position to risk the lives of these giraffes, given the precarious state of the Rothschild’s subspecies more broadly. The population of this unique variation has taken a dramatic hit in recent times.

The subspecies was first identified by Lord Walter Rothschild at the start of the 20th century – hence their name. Around this time, the animals had a far larger population which lived throughout Kenya and parts of Uganda. But it wasn’t much longer before their numbers began to dwindle, thanks to factors including water scarcity and hunting. Now, there are no more than 3,000 Rothschild’s giraffes left on Earth, with a mere 800 in Kenya specifically.

Clearly, then, there’s an urgency to the efforts of those who seek to conserve the subspecies. That’s why such people have gone to great effort to protect the giraffes, like they did in 2011. That year, eight of the creatures were relocated to Longicharo Island in the hope that hunters wouldn’t be able to get them there. Unfortunately, though, poachers weren’t the only issue.

Longicharo Island ultimately proved to be an unsuitable home for the giraffes, so conservationists knew they needed to act. A coalition involving local tribes, an American charity and a Kenyan state organization came together, which was a wonderful achievement in and of itself. That’s because two of the local groups involved had historically been hostile to one another, but they came together to help the giraffes.

By the end of 2020 the conservationists were ready to get to work. First off, they had to focus their rescue efforts on a female giraffe named Asiwa. She’d been separated from the rest of her kind, and this meant she found herself in the most delicate situation. If the team didn’t help her quickly, the outcomes weren’t looking good.

As O’Connor explained to CNN, the rescue mission would involve moving the giraffes onto a boat to get them off Longicharo Island. In order to do this, the team would attempt to lure the animals on board by offering them delicious fruit. The problem with this plan, though, was that favorable weather conditions over the previous year meant that there was already plenty of food on the island. Why, then, would the giraffes want to pick fruit from a boat?

A more drastic measure had to be taken: one which came with great risks. Firing a tranquilizer at the giraffes was the only solution, but the team had to be really careful. They needed to be quick and to ensure that the animals could breathe properly while they were under sedation.

But that was just one issue. The other, of course, was how to transport a giraffe, which is after all an enormous creature, across the waters of a lake. Well, the conservationists had an answer to that. They dreamed up a special sort of boat-cum-raft, specifically designed for moving giraffes. It wasn’t an easy task, but they managed to construct such a thing.

The team had done all they could to prepare, but then it came down to the day of the operation itself. Once on the island, the first step was to fire a tranquilizer into the unsuspecting Asiwa, who collapsed into some shrubs. The conservationists then raced over to her, covering her eyes to stop her from panicking.

Using ropes to guide the mildly sedated giraffe, the team encouraged Asiwa towards the boat. As O’Connor recalled to CNN, “She’s a very, very tough girl… Once we got her onto a more open space where there was an established track, she just walked straight onto the barge. Sometimes it looked like someone was walking a puppy on a Sunday afternoon. It was amazing.”

Once Asiwa was on board, the team set sail. The creature still had her eyes covered at this point, plus her ears were blocked. Evidently, the thinking was that the operation would run more smoothly as long as the giraffe wasn’t over-stimulated. With that in mind, the conservationists around her during the voyage kept their voices down as much as they could.

As you might expect, it was a tense journey for everyone involved. Ultimately, though, things went well. As O’Connor told CNN, “Although it got all our hearts pounding at the beginning of the sedation, at the end of it, it was absolutely perfect... And Asiwa was absolutely wonderful on the barge ride over. I think she was built for the sea.”

Another person who was present on that day was Ami Vitale, a photographer who captured images of the operation. According to her, “The wonderful part was watching [Asiwa] gently amble off the boat once the blindfold was released as if nothing had happened... It really was a scene that could have been biblical.”

Thankfully the operation to move Asiwa was a complete success. She was transported across Lake Baringo without incident, before being brought to an animal reserve called the Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy. It was a happy ending for the stricken animal, but the conservationists didn’t have time to luxuriate in their victory and congratulate themselves on a tricky job well done. After all, there were more giraffes left to save back on Longicharo Island.

Spelling out the situation, O’Connor spoke to the website of British newspaper Metro in December 2020 just after Asiwa’s successful rescue. He said, “There is great urgency to execute this rescue... We couldn’t have asked for a better result, and we’re eager to move the others soon. With giraffe undergoing a silent extinction, every one we can protect matters.”

And so, the day after rescuing Asiwa, the conservationists were at it again. This time, they managed to pick up a female giraffe named Pasaka. After that, more females and a male called Lbarnoti were in need of rescue. All in all, it was a painstaking operation that was spread out over a number of months.

It wasn’t until the end of January 2021 that Lbarnoti was retrieved from Longicharo Island by the conservationists. They successfully lured the giraffe onto their special boat, before setting off for the Ruko center. If this journey went well, then the male would be reunited with his fellow giraffes.

Luckily for the team, Lbarnoti marched right onto the boat without putting up a fight. He was, it seems, happy to chew on the treats they had provided for him as he was transported across the lake. And before long, he’d completed his journey and was brought back together with his giraffe friends at the Ruko wildlife haven.

Lbarnoti was an easier passenger than some of the other giraffes. But as the founder of Save Giraffes Now explained to Metro, each animal is different. According to Susan Myers, “Each giraffe has its own personality... Some are very timid, while others are brave and go onto the barge readily. This is a painstaking process, and the team is being very deliberate about the training.”

The final phase of the giraffe rescue mission finally got under way on April 12, 2021. This time the focus was on Ngarikoni and her calf Noelle, who were the last pair of giraffes on Longicharo Island. With their successful recovery, the conservationists would finally be able to celebrate after months of difficult activities.

Thankfully, this last step of the mission went really smoothly. The two giraffes were brought to the Ruko sanctuary, where they happily trotted around upon their arrival. That moment marked the end of the rescue operation, which hopefully will have helped to protect the Rothschild’s subspecies from extinction.

After a lot of hard work, the conservationists had finally managed to transport the giraffes away from Longicharo Island. Thanks to their efforts, they saved the giraffe group from certain doom. But why had they been compelled to take such drastic action in the first place? Well, it all had to do with surging water levels.

As previously mentioned, back in 2011 Longicharo Island had been identified as a perfect place to accommodate some Rothschild’s giraffes. But in the years that followed, high levels of rain meant that Lake Baringo started to flood the isle, which had in fact previously been a peninsula. The land was becoming unstable, increasingly slipping beneath the waters of the lake. Disaster was inevitable.

In the years that followed the animals’ 2011 relocation food had been becoming increasingly difficult for the giraffes to find on their shrinking island, as O’Connor explained to Atlas Obscura. He said, “[Rothschild’s giraffes are] a little bit skinnier than a normal giraffe… With the dry season, there’s absolutely no food, so they’re depending 100 percent on supplemental feeding by the team.”

Though the conservationists saved the giraffes from the shrinking island, much more still needs to be done. O’Connor explained to Atlas Obscura, “Once we rescue them, that’s not the end of it... That’s actually just the beginning of trying to repopulate the entire western Rift Valley with this type of giraffe, where they became locally extinct 70 years ago.”

Projects such as this rescue mission are essential endeavors, if giraffes as a whole are to survive. While the Rothschild’s subspecies is particularly under threat, other types of giraffe are also in precarious positions. In the last 30 or so years, in fact, their numbers have dwindled by roughly 40 percent.

At one point in time, Rothschild’s giraffes specifically were thriving throughout Kenya, as well as in Uganda and the south of Sudan. But these populations took a massive hit over the years, meaning that there are only a few thousand left today. It’s a potentially disastrous situation for the subspecies.

Still, the rescue of the Rothschild’s giraffes from flooding on Longicharo Island at least provides a flicker of hope. In fact, the positive implications of the operation extend well beyond the animals themselves. That’s because of how two of the local communities involved came together to help the giraffes, despite years of animosity previously.

In a statement, the manager of the Ruko wildlife haven elaborated on the importance of the giraffe conservation efforts to the wider communities. Rebby Sebei said, “Ruko is an example of how much peace is linked to everything else – conservation, livelihoods, business, gender equality, governance... It all starts with peace.”

Giraffes have now taken on a symbolic significance for the previously hostile communities. Having been brought together in order to save the animals, the two local groups can now look at the creatures as emblematic of their new-found harmony. The operation, then, has been far-reaching in its successes.

And the Ruko center does more than just look after giraffes exclusively. Many other threatened animals, in fact, are also housed at the site, including warthogs, ostriches and impalas. Hopefully, the immense efforts of the people running the sanctuary will ensure the protection and restoration of Kenya’s wonderful wildlife for generations to come.