The group has been working on a project for months to move a group of isolated giraffes trapped on a shrinking island due to rising waters. Asiwa, a female, was recently the first rescued and reunited with her fellow giraffes at the Ruko Community Conservancy.

Infested by crocs the team journey across the water in a custom built raft that would eventually see all seven giraffes transported across.

With only an estimated 700 of these worldwide, they are all endangered as they are part of the Rothschild’s subspecies. They remain only in Kenya and Uganda.

For months the rangers have been using small rafts to take supplies over the waters to help feed and care for the giraffes ahead of the evacuation. Now that the rescue has begun, the giraffes are being kept in a holding pen until they are all together. Then they will be transported to the 4,400-acre fenced sanctuary, where they will have space, protection and an abundance of grazing.

In an Instagram post by Save Giraffes Now, they say, “After months of planning it was a HUGE relief for all involved to see Asiwa take her first steps into her new home.

Asiwa travelled well and is now getting accustomed to her new location, food and landscape in a smaller section of the 17.7 square kilometres predator-proof sanctuary, located within 44,000 hectares of Ruko Community Conservancy mainland. This will be the protocol for each giraffe moved. As they settle, the team from Ruko will then slowly release them into ever-larger areas of the sanctuary, where they’ll join other giraffe that will be re-introduced in future.

Six #RukoGiraffes remain on the island they will be moved in the next few months.

Source: GoodThingsGuy.com