On the 4th of August a pair of giraffes was being transported to a game farm in Warmbarths, around 99 miles outside of Johannesburg. Game farms are known to be used not just for guests to enjoy safari experiences, some also offer canned hunting ( when people pay very high prices for the opportunity to kill wildlife like giraffes while the animal is placed in an enclosure which guarantees a 'kill' because the animal has no way to escape.
These two majestic creatures (whose species average at 16-20 feet in height) were loaded while blindfolded onto an open air trailer and drove down a highway which has overpasses. This incredible showcase of human stupidity resulted in one of the giraffes hitting it's head on a bridge on the N1 motorway. It is believed the giraffe died on impact. However the truck then broke down and was out of service for 3 hours, only then once the truck was fixed was the dead giraffe taken to a vet, who declared the poor animal dead on arrival. It is unclear whether the other giraffe was with the injured one for the three hours. Eye witnesses described the sound of the impact as being like a shot fired from a gun and there were reports of a 'lot of blood'
I am asking the NSPCA to devote themselves even further to getting justice for this poor giraffe and I am also asking they work with the CACH and the SA Conservation authorities in order to prevent horrific things such as this happening in the future, and to also bring an end to canned hunting once and for all.
Pictures (pre-incident):
- http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/causes/3104/3103560.large.jpg
- http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76662000/jpg/_76662494_4a88f901-21d8-4f13-8dbe-67a53a2b9feb.jpg
