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Save africa’s giants

20th October 2021

SAVE AFRICA’S GIANTS

We’ve launched an urgent new appeal to protect elephants and giraffes.

A photo of a mother giraffe bending her head down to touch her baby. They are in dense trees.

A photo of a baby elephant walking alongside three adult elephants. The baby is reaching its trunk up to touch one of the adults.

Elephants and giraffes are under threat from habitat loss through conversion of land for farming and increasing human populations, drought, poaching and illegal hunting for meat.

With your support, our Save Africa’s Giants appeal will offer a lifeline to these giant species, building on the significant conservation efforts we have already undertaken in Meru, Born Free’s heartland in Kenya.

The Meru Conservation Area is home to around 500 elephants and 1,400 rare, reticulated giraffes. Both species play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem – eating and dispersing seeds from acacia trees which help prevent desertification, and encourage new tree growth. In turn, these trees provide food and habitat for a wealth of other species to thrive.

Since 2014, Born Free has returned to our roots in the Meru-Kora landscape. Here, where George and Joy Adamson returned Elsa the lioness to the wild, we are working to safeguard wildlife populations. Overrun by poachers in the 1970s and 80s, wildlife was decimated but Born Free is now working with the Kenya Wildlife Service to restore the area to former glory. 

This year, we unveiled our new conservation project, Saving Meru’s Giants, to protect Meru’s elephants and giraffes. This Born Free-run initiative tracks and monitors giraffes and works with local communities to increase awareness about the sub-species, mitigate any conflict with giraffes, reduce the impact of poaching and halt the degradation of giraffe habitat. It also enables our team to study savannah elephants in their natural habitat and address human-elephant conflict.

Our appeal to Save Africa’s Giants will expand on the vital work in taking place in Meru, and extend extra protection to elephants and giraffes living within the park.

There is no time to lose. Your gift today will help give Africa’s giants a fighting chance of survival.
 

SAVE AFRICA’S GIANTS    DONATE TODAY

Images © www.georgelogan.co.uk