Two rare white giraffes, one male and one calf, were probably killed by poachers in a Kenyan nature reserve, reports the Hirola Conservation Program (HCP) Tuesday. The animals had been missing for some time when the two carcasses were discovered.
Presumably the remains were already in the reserve for four months, reports the Kenya Wildlife Service. The service works closely with Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, the manager of the reserve, to resolve the matter. Local authorities are not yet aware of possible perpetrators.
The white giraffes were discovered in 2017. Local residents had reported this to the HCP. It was probably then about a female and her young. A year earlier a white giraffe was seen in the reserve and two months earlier one would have been seen in Tanzania.
The animals do not have albinism, but leucism. This means that some body parts of the animals still produce pigment, while this is not the case with albinism. The giraffes, for example, had very strikingly colored eyes.
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