It was an important day for the giraffe at Taronga Western Plains Zoo on Wednesday.
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June 21 is World Giraffe Day. The day aims to raise awareness of giraffe and their declining numbers in the wild.
Keeper Mark O’Riordan said giraffe in the wild were now classified as vulnerable. Unfortunately, giraffe have lost 40 per cent of the population in the last 30 years, he said, with about 80,000 now left.
“You hear every second day on social media and the news about elephant poaching for their ivory and rhino poaching for their horn but not so much about the giraffe,” Mr Riordan said.
“It’s known as the silent extinction but it doesn’t have to be silent much longer if [people] know about it.”
In Dubbo, about 30 calves have been born in the last few decades, with another three to be born in the coming months. The zoo currently has four generations of giraffe on display.
Mr O’Riodan said the most important way for the public to help the giraffe was simply to be educated about the animal’s plight.
The species was declining due to illegal poaching, trophy hunting and loss of habitat, the keeper said.
“Farming communities are encroaching on giraffe’s land. Farmers are chopping down the trees which leaves the giraffe hungry,” Mr O’Riodan.
“We don’t have any malice for these communities, they’re only trying to make a living for themselves, like us.”
Zoos within Australasia were working together to protect giraffes, he said.