World Giraffe Day 2016 – What A Success for Giraffe Conservation!
World Giraffe Day (WGD) is an exciting annual event initiated by GCF to celebrate the longest-necked animal on the longest day or night (depending on which hemisphere you live!) of the year – 21 June – every year! After last year’s successful campaign for Operation Twiga (which implementation is shown in the BBC documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough – Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants – read more below), this year with all your help we raised support and awareness for reticulated giraffe conservation in Kenya as well as environmental education in Namibia.
Your support has again been amazing! Countless zoos and organisations around the world have helped us to get the giraffe conservation message out and raise important funding for projects on the ground. This year, the Leiden Conservation Foundation offered to match all new donations above US$1,000 received in the USA dollar-for-dollar up to a total of US$25,000. We are very excited to announce that we have reached this goal. A special thank you goes to all new WGD donors and Leiden Conservation Foundation!
We are now working with our partners in Kenya, including Kenya Wildlife Service, San Diego Zoo Global, Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, Northern Rangeland Trust and more, to increase the protection of reticulated giraffe. We are slowly getting a better idea of the numbers and distribution of these iconic giraffe and work closely with Kenyans to secure a future for reticulated giraffe in the wild.
At the same time, the Khomas Environmental Education Programme (KEEP) in Namibia goes from strength to strength. Since January we have already taken 1,000 grade 3 and 4 students from Namibia’s Khomas Region into the field for a day. The kids have an amazing day with much fun and laughter while at the same time learning so much. All feedback has been positive – actually, the only complaint is that the day is too short and that the same kids won’t be back next year, but rather the next grade from their school. While the programme does not solely focus on giraffe, these amazing animals are used as examples and our character ‘Lopie the giraffe’ guides the kids through the day and has many wise things to say. Thanks to your support we will be able to continue doing environmental education in Namibia. Find out more about KEEP and read the most recent update report.
Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants
After our giraffe documentary premiered successfully on BBC Two-Natural World in June in the UK, we can now finally announce a date for the USA. Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants will be shown on WNET(PBS) on 26 October 2016, time TBC. This amazing co-production of BBC and PBS showcases GCF’ collaborative work across Africa and is narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Following the UK screening, we received a lot of positive feedback and are proud to have inspired quite a few people. Our main aim when agreeing to get involved in the documentary was to draw attention to the plight of giraffe and share our important giraffe conservation message with a wider audience: Giraffe are in danger, but we can still do something about it! Let’s all work together to secure a future for giraffe in Africa. Read more about this exciting documentary and make sure to tune in on 26 October on WNET(PBS)!
Adopt-a-Giraffe
Are you looking for an easy yet valuable way to support giraffe conservation in Africa? Maybe you are looking for a unique present for a special person? From only US$50 you can adopt a giraffe and support giraffe conservation in Africa!
GCF is seeking support for its long-term giraffe conservation programme in north-western Namibia and by becoming a Giraffe Explorer or a Giraffe Guardian you can help us save giraffe in Africa. Read more about our Adopt-a-Giraffe programme and become a Giraffe Explorer or Giraffe Guardian yourself.
Call for contributions for Giraffid Vol 10(1) 2016
If you have any interesting giraffid stories to share, please send us your contributions for Giraffid Vol 10(1) 2016 – the newsletter of the IUCN SSC Giraffe & Okapi Specialist Group (GOSG) and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF). Have a look here for previous issues of Giraffid for inspiration.
Please send your stories to [email protected] by 9 September 2016.
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