The authorities in Kenya have confirmed reports that two giraffes were electrocuted in a conservancy by low hanging power lines.
The Rothschild’s giraffes died in Soysambu conservancy.
Rothschild’s are one of the most endangered species of giraffes, with only a few hundreds left in the wild.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was reacting to tweets by conservationist Paula Kahumbu that an endangered species was at risk:
KWS said officials from the state-owned power distributing company, Kenya Power, would replace the poles.
“Preliminary reports indicate that the height of the electricity poles crossing Soysambu Conservancy are low, below giraffe’s height,” a statement read in part.
Ms Kahumbu said the deaths could have been prevented if experts’ advise was heeded.
“These power lines have been killing giraffes, vultures and flamingos. Advice from experts was ignored.
RIAs [Risk Impact Assessments] are notoriously poor on many development projects. Sad that it takes these kinds of deaths to wake some people up!” she tweeted.
-BBC
