Greetings to all.We are delighted to inform you that IUCN Has responded to the online petition on the plight of 11 electrocuted Giraffes at Soysambu Conservancy.
IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Giraffe & Okapi Specialist Group
1 March 2021
Position Statement Regarding Electrocuted Giraffe in Soysambu Conservancy The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group (GOSG) is an internationally recognized voluntary expert body of giraffe research and conservation practitioners with the stated mission of supporting conservation actions designed to ensure the long-term survival of Giraffes across the African continent.
Like many, we have become aware of the recent electrocution of multiple giraffe in Soysambu Conservancy in Kenya. While all individuals of a species are important, Soysambu Conservancy contains an important population of near threatened Rothschild’s giraffe, the deaths of which represent a nontrivial loss for this unique and imperilled taxon.
Acknowledging the importance of electrical transmission infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing human population, we focus our efforts on productive ways to ensure coexistence with giraffe (and other wildlife) and people living with them across these important ecosystems. Incorporating the ecology of wildlife into preconstruction environmental impact assessments (EIA) is an important part of ethical development in sensitive systems.
We are aware of the mitigation actions taken by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company to assess the current height of transmission lines, with recommendations to raise the height of the lines to accommodate giraffe, eliminating the risk of electrocution.
We welcome these efforts and encourage more explicit guidelines for mitigating conflict with wildlife into future EIA’s - similar work has been conducted in numerous countries across Southern Africa.
To ensure that no giraffe in future are impacted by such development, we propose the following suggestions:
• Increasing the height of transmission lines to 8 metres to prevent potential impact with giraffe and other large animals such as elephant.
• Implementing more systematic EIA protocols for baseline abundance and movement data of critical wildlife populations.
• Assess the viability of alternate routes and methods of building power lines in wildlife rich environments.
• Developing more robust protocols and monitoring to ensure compliance with the existing EIA process. As an example, assess and develop similar guidelines to that proposed in the UNEP produced “Guidelines on How to Avoid or Mitigate Impact of Electricity Power Grids on Migratory Birds in the African-Eurasian Region” (https://www.unepaewa.org/.../ts50_electr_guidelines...)
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IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Giraffe & Okapi Specialist Group
• Considering that the issue of electrocution of giraffe is recognised as a threat in the Soysambu Conservancy in the current version of the ‘The Recovery and Action Plan for Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) in Kenya’, future reviews should propose specific priority actions that are adopted by relevant authorities.
We are optimistic that under the leadership of the Kenya Wildlife Service [and other important regulatory bodies], practical and science-based EIA protocols can be reviewed to promote a better coexistence with giraffe and other wildlife in these important environments.
We were encouraged by the immediate actions undertaken by the relevant authorities in this circumstance and do hope this sets a standard for future situations. As the IUCN SSC GOSG we happily offer technical expertise in the review of these EIA protocols when related to giraffids, as and where appropriate.
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