Criminal intent

The Covid-19 pandemic has served notice to humans on the dangers associated with consumption of exotic wildlife. And while the world is struggling to find a vaccine that will stem the loss of human lives, we are pained regularly by another serious malady — rampant and mindless poaching (“Poachers kill Kenya’s only female white giraffe and her calf,” Mar.11, Gulf Today)

It is a very sad day, not only for researchers and tourism providers working in the remote corner of Kenya, but all of humanity to lose one of the jewels of African wildlife. Kenya’s only female white giraffe and her calf were killed by poachers.

It was just two years ago that the sighting of the giraffe and her calf grabbed headlines. Their deaths leave just one remaining white giraffe alive − a lone male, borne by the same slaughtered female. The manager of the conservancy, who unlike the cruel poachers, was shocked: “We are the only community in the world who are custodians of the white giraffe. Its killing is a blow to tremendous steps taken by the community to conserve rare and unique species, and a wakeup call for continued support to conservation efforts.”

I agree that it is a wakeup call. But who other than animal lovers and conservationists give a second thought to such calls. Illegal wildlife trade is big business. If I am not wrong it is among the top five illegal activities globally.

And to make matters worse, there is no global legal agreement on wildlife crime. We don’t need to go far to get a better picture of this than the Wuhan market in China, the birth place of the novel coronavirus which is claiming thousands of lives globally.

Conservation efforts need support. Zimababwe follows a healthy model. The country exported 101 elephants between 2016 and 2019 raising more than $3 million for conservation efforts. It was unfortunate though that the conservatory lost over 200 elephants last year due to severe drought. But legal sale is a good means of generating revenue.

Hope the lone white giraffe survivor graces Kenya for a long time to come.

Desiree R—By email