Poachers Caught Butchering Giraffe in Bloody Scenes Ending in Gunfight

Six poachers were caught slaughtering a giraffe in Kenya, leading to a shootout between the men and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers. The incident occurred Tuesday in Wajir, about 60 miles west of the Somalia border.

"Earlier this morning KWS Rangers in Wajir station received a tip-off from the public on an incident of poaching at Danyure area near the Kenya-Somali border. They promptly rushed to the scene where they encountered six armed men slaughtering a giraffe," the KWS wrote in a Facebook post.

"This is so barbaric. They should get locked away for a long time," wrote a Twitter user in response to the same news being tweeted by the KWS.

After the rangers arrived, the two parties fired guns at each other before the poachers escaped, leaving behind three motorcycles, three cellphones, an ax, several knives and the giraffe's carcass. "The KWS rangers are closely working with other government security agencies in an effort to trace the poachers," the wildlife service said. Newsweek has contacted the KWS for updates on the search for the poachers.

Giraffes are among several species that are regularly poached in various African countries. They have a scattered range in nations including Kenya, Chad, South Africa, Niger and Somalia and are classified as a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. A 2016 study estimated that only about 97,500 giraffes were left on Earth.

A large reason for their population decline is poaching. Giraffes, despite being protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, are regularly hunted not only for their meat but also for their tail hairs, which are used in jewelry and materials, and their skin and tendons, which are used to make sandals, drums and other musical instruments.

Kenya announced in late 2019 that it had reduced wildlife poaching by 90 percent in the previous six years.

"Our law enforcement units have embarked on structure engagement with local communities, private ranches and other conservation stakeholders to counter poaching threats and other wildlife crimes," KWS Director-General John Waweru told China's Xinhua news agency.

1 of 2

However, in recent months poaching has increased because of an ongoing drought. This has led to food shortages as a result of livestock migrating to find sources of vegetation and water, driving poachers to go after alternative sources of meat.

"The drought is making life much harder for wildlife and people. And everyone's praying for the rain and waiting for the rain and hoping that the grass will return once again," Save the Elephants CEO Frank Pope previously told Newsweek. "You need rain for plants to grow and animals need plants to eat, and there's not been enough rain."

The drought's impact on food and water availability is also directly affecting Africa's iconic animals. Two percent of the Grevy's zebra, the world's rarest zebra species, has been wiped out since June, and several elephant and even camel carcasses have been discovered dead from starvation.

This situation may not resolve itself as quickly as hoped.

"When the rain does come, unfortunately, this is a really fragile ecosystem, and there is now so much pressure because of a bigger human population and the bigger livestock population. Every time the rain comes, the grass comes back a bit less than it did before," Pope said.

"We can be categorical about the impact of overgrazing on this ecosystem. And it's a ticking time bomb for all the people that depend on the grasslands of northern Kenya and for the wildlife," he said.