Conservation Spotlight: Save the Giraffes

Executive Director and Conservation Scientist & Trustee of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GFC), Dr. Julian Fennessy, will join the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens and the Conservancy of Southwest Florida for a discussion on the one Africa’s most iconic, yet little known animals, the giraffe. Though one of the most well-known animals on the African Savannah, limited research has been done on giraffes, while numbers are continuing to dwindle across the continent – in the last decade alone, populations have plummeted by more than 40 percent, making it of the utmost importance to learn as much as we can about this graceful species before it is too late.

Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens - Save the Giraffe - Dr. Julian Fennessy - Giraffe COnservation Foundation

   Dr. Fennessy, who also co-chairs the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Species Survival Commission for giraffe and okapi specialist groups, is at the forefront of the fight to save the giraffe. With work in Botswana, Kenya, Nambia, Niger, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Fennessy and the GFC are leading outreach programs within the community to help raise awareness about the importance of the giraffe to not only local ecosystems, but their own economic wellbeing – tourism dollars will continue to diminish as do Africa’s megafauna numbers – while spearheading research projects to determine the underlying cause of the decreasing giraffe population.

   Fennessy will share his insights and findings on state of the wild giraffe on Friday, September 19 at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s Eaton Conservation Hall. Doors open at 6:30, with the presentation beginning promptly at 7 p.m.

  • Admission is free; RSVP to 239-262-5409, ext. 135.
  • For more information, visit napleszoo.com.

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