Watch: Giraffes: Africa’s Gentle Giants
This is a heartbreaking and heartwarming documentary. Beautifully shot in Africa, it features Dr. Julian Fennessy who has spent (as of 2022) the last 26 years of his life studying giraffes. He and his wife have worked tirelessly with scarce funds to educate the world about the dwindling giraffe population, and the very real possibility of extinction for these majestic creatures we have somehow overlooked.
With never faltering determination, Dr. Fennessy teams up with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to round up twenty of the world’s rarest giraffes. Every member of the team pray each day for protection for the animals and the team as they embark on a never before journey to relocate these giraffes to start a pioneer colony where no giraffe has been before.
Viewers watch the nearly impossible task of capturing the giraffes, shooting them with tranquilizers, giving an antidote to them at the precise time needed so they won’t die, then getting them into trucks and taking them across the ferry on the Nile to Murchison Falls National Park. This had never been done before, and mind you, giraffes can weigh up to 2 tons. One kick from a giraffe could decapitate a man - not on purpose of course. They also have beautiful long eyelashes, they are social, they are kind, and their long necks up to six feet and weighing 600 pounds have just seven vertebrae - the same as all other mammals.
Dr. Fennessy feels such fierce love for these gentle giants. When he was quite young he wanted to be a stockbroker like his dad. His dad worked hard under a great deal of stress and died suddenly one day. That changed the course of Dr. Fennessy’s life. He and his wife and two children love what they are doing and as Dr. Fennessy says “ no giraffe is going to go extinct under my watch.”
Bringing these giraffes to a safe place where they are less likely to be tortured and killed by poachers formed by organized crime has been Dr. Fennessy’s lifelong dream. Taking them to a place where they can live on both sides of the Nile, have better water and more plentiful food, and swell the colony, has been worth every hour of all of the hard work and research, all of the never-ending fundraising and educating, and all of the sacrifices he and his family have made to bring this all to fruition.
When the documentary is coming to an end and the giraffes are going to be released, you’ll have tears in your eyes. Your heart will be pounding with excitement, encouragement, and joy, to see these gorgeous animals released and running free, off to their new lives. This is definitely worth watching.
Note - Also worth watching is the March 2019 documentary “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes.”
Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, born in 1933, is a pioneer as a woman in the field of the scientific study of giraffes, and an inspiration to many women through the years to not let being a woman stop you from pursuing your dreams and entering any male-dominated scientific study and field research arena. Bravo!
READ: West With Giraffes
GO: San Diego Zoo
