A Ranger from the Kragga Kamma Game Park in the Eastern Cape, Terri Dunn says giraffes are vital for keeping the eco-systems in balance.
This comes as South Africa is joining the world in marking, Giraffe Day. This day is used to celebrate, educate and create awareness about these hoofed mammals.
There are only 117 000 giraffe remaining in Africa a ratio of one giraffe for every four elephants. The numbers are on the rise, an increase of 20% over the past five years.
Dunn says, “Giraffes are vital to keeping ecosystems in balance. They eat the browse, the top of the trees, that others cannot reach, which promotes the growth of forage and opens up areas for themselves and other smaller browsers to make use of. Without them, the entire ecosystem falls apart. More importantly, other animals die.”
Giraffes are not threatened species
In 2016, giraffes moved to the vulnerable from least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. There are four species of giraffe in the world.
Co-founder of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, Julian Fennessy says, “It’s exciting after 10 years to see how this has grown, increasing education and awareness about giraffes around the world. And what has been exciting is what we have been able to do with the support from World Giraffe Day.”
“Numbers of giraffes are increasing with over 117 000 of them in the wild, that’s an increase of almost 20% in the last five years alone. It’s not just because giraffes are increasing in numbers but we have got better surveys and better results, it’s more people doing giraffe work so that’s fantastic stuff.”
