Africa report
Drought in Kenya: wildlife in danger [3/3]
Audio 02:24
The remains of a wild giraffe, a victim of drought.
© RFI/Florence Morice
By: Florence Morice Follow
3 mins
The drought in Kenya is decimating livestock, but not sparing wild animals.
In the northeast of the country, conservatives estimate that more than 200 the number of giraffes have died in the past year.
They suffer from the lack of water and food, but also from poaching and conflicts over access to the meager resources still available resulting from this drought.
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From our special correspondent in Garissa,
About twenty wild giraffes emerging from the savannah gather around the feeder where Doctor Ali and his teams have just dumped food.
“
We decided to feed the giraffes to help them survive the drought.
They are given acacia pods, which are very nutritious and produced locally, and also water.
Because as you can see, the landscape has become dry, very arid, there is no foliage in the trees, but these animals depend on this vegetation
”.
Ali has been running the Bour Algi giraffe sanctuary, south of Garissa, for 10 years.
But this is the first time he feels the urgency to feed them.
“
I've seen droughts before this one.
But usually it affects livestock and humans.
But this year, for the first time, I saw wild animals like giraffes drop dead or collapse from exhaustion and dehydration.
It made us think about what we could do to save them
.
»
► To read also: Drought in Kenya: decimated herds, separated families
Giraffes victims of traps
Last November, Dr. Ali also dug a pool of water, regularly replenished, where wild giraffes come to drink.
That day, in the group, he spots an injured giraffe.
“
You see his left leg there, look, it's staggering… That's an injury caused by a trap set by a human.
Herders lost their cattle.
They are hungry.
And they happen to attack giraffes.
We see more and more injuries
.
»
Fatuma Hussein in front of her mango trees damaged by giraffes.
© RFI/Florence Morice
Giraffes victims of poaching in order to sell their meat in these times of shortage, or victims of traps set by farmers.
Because the drought is such that it is no longer rare to see wild giraffes venturing to feed even inside the farms.
Fatuma Hussein grows mangoes.
She paid for it.
“
They ate that part of the tree.
Look, luckily my neighbor came to drive them away.
They only have our trees to eat because of the drought.
And me, every night I go to sleep in stress with the fear of waking up and discovering that my whole plantation will have been destroyed
...”
Conflicts are all the more frequent in that part of the acacia trees that remain despite the drought are also prized by charcoal producers, thus destroying part of their habitat.
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Kenya
Wildlife