World’s only known white giraffe gets fitted with a tracking device

Noor thanked the Kenya Wildlife Service, Save Giraffes Now and the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) for their help in safeguarding wildlife species.

“Our mission is to work with communities, enable them [to] be resilient, secure their livelihoods as well as protect the unique wildlife like the only known white giraffe,” said Antony Wandera, senior wildlife monitoring officer at the NRT.

The male giraffe has a rare genetic trait called leucism, which results in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal and makes it easy to spot for poachers on the arid savannah. Unlike albinism, animals with leucism continue to produce a dark pigment in their soft tissue, meaning the giraffe’s eyes are dark.

In March, the remains of two of the stunning white giraffes that lived at the Kenyan wildlife sanctuary were found in a skeletal state, killed by poachers.

The female white giraffe first made headlines when she was discovered, alongside her calf, in 2017. A second calf followed, and the family of three lived a free-ranging life within the confines of the sanctuary, where they generated a lot of interest from tourists around the world.

Visitors flocked to see the family of three, stretching for glimpses from behind the trees. Video of the giraffe posted to YouTube racked up more than one million views. They were featured by USA Today, The Guardian, Inside Edition, and National Geographic, among other outlets.