Uganda moves endangered giraffes to protect them from oil development

Uganda’s wildlife authority began moving 12 endangered Nubian giraffes from Murchison Falls National Park to Ajai Wildlife Reserve as oil development pushed closer to the country’s largest park. Rangers and veterinarians started the translocation on July 22, sedating the animals and loading them for transport to the reserve near Arua in northwestern Uganda.

Murchison Falls is a major tourism draw and a critical habitat in Uganda’s Albertine Graben. Nubian giraffes are among the most highly threatened mammals in Uganda, and Murchison Falls supports the largest naturally occurring population of Nubian giraffes in the world.

That population has rebounded from deep lows. A 2023 survey by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation estimated about 1,692 Nubian giraffes in the park in 2019, up from fewer than 200 in the 1970s. Drilling, roads and related infrastructure can fragment habitat, disrupt movement and increase contact between wildlife and people.

Uganda has used translocation before to protect giraffes from development pressure. The Giraffe Conservation Foundation says 15 Nubian giraffes were introduced into Lake Mburo National Park in 2015 in a conservation translocation prompted by oil development in Murchison Falls, and that population had grown to 52 by 2023. A separate translocation to Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve, known as Operation Twiga V, was completed in December 2020.

Uganda Wildlife Authority’s National Giraffe Conservation Strategy and Action Plan covers 2020 to 2030. It includes translocations as part of species management.