The image is devastating: six giraffes lie dead one on top of the other forming a kind of circle on the ground.
The animals died of thirst and hunger in the Sabuli Nature Reserve in Wajir, Kenya, amid an intense drought.
The chilling photographs are illustrative of the danger facing wildlife in this region of Africa due to climate change.
Aerial view of the carcasses of six giraffes killed by drought in the Sabduli Nature Reserve, Kenya, on December 10, 2021. Getty Images
Since September to date,
only 30% of the usual rain has fallen
, so that around 4,000 giraffes are in danger of death, according to experts quoted by a local newspaper.
[Planet Earth: The climate emergency reduces the population of monarch butterfly]
The giraffes were killed when they got stuck in the mud while trying to drink water from a pond that had dried up.
Weak from lack of food and water, they were unable to escape.
Abdi Karim, the assistant-in-chief of the town of Eyrib in Wajir County, points out the bodies of six dead giraffes on December 10, 2021. Getty Images
The photos were taken in a different place than where they died.
Because their bodies were removed from that water reserve to prevent it from becoming contaminated.
The drought in northern Kenya also threatens herding and livestock communities, who now face a very precarious situation.
A dead giraffe on the road to the town of Matanha, on December 9, 2021, in Wajir County, Kenya.
Getty Images
Pressured in this way, many herders have resorted to desperate measures to feed their livestock, which have harmed giraffes and other wildlife.
[900 Yellowstone bison to be relocated or slaughtered this winter]
The carcass of a giraffe that perished due to drought in northern Kenya on December 9, 2021. Getty Images
"The domestic animals are being helped, but not the wildlife, who are now suffering,"
Bour-Algi, a worker at the giraffe sanctuary, told The Star, explaining that farming activities along the rivers have blocked access to water for other species.
Giraffes are a species listed as threatened by the Kenyan government, which has declared a national emergency since September due to the drought.