Seven years ago, Jen Law watched April the giraffe give birth live on YouTube — and she hasn’t been the same since.
The live birth was life-changing for Law, who hadn’t known much about the endangered animals up until then. But watching April’s gawky, awkward son, Tajiri, emerge in front of her eyes arrowed her heart, along with the millions of others watching the mama giraffe labor at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, N.Y. And while they waited for the baby, many live-chatted on the website.
“And now we’re best friends and meet and educate people about conservation and travel to different zoos and conservation centers,” said Law, a Longmont resident.
At 9 a.m. Friday, Law and a group of those fellow giraffe lovers will meet at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to spend time with the giraffes in the morning and do two behind-the-scenes experiences with the marsupials and hippos in the afternoon. Spots are open for the public to join. Attendees must pay regular zoo admission fees. Advance ticket purchase is required.
Gentle giants: Meet the giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Law also has organized a fundraising presentation, “The Life History and Sociality of Female Giraffes,” from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Penrose Library with Fred Bercovitch, a wildlife conservation biologist and executive director of Save the Giraffes, a nonprofit that seeks to protect and preserve giraffes in their natural habitat. He is also an adjunct professor at Kyoto University and the University of the Free State in South Africa.
Mary Dagg also will be at the event. She’s the daughter of Anne Innis Dagg, a renowned Canadian zoologist credited as the first person to study wild giraffes in their natural habitat. Law originally invited Anne to speak at the event. She said yes but died in April.
The presentation will include a screening of the 2018 documentary “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,” a retracing of Anne’s 1956 journey to South Africa to study giraffes.
The public is invited to the presentation.
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As head of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Behavioral Biology Division, Bercovitch also documented the social habits of giraffes.
“We found giraffes behaved pretty much like people who attend cocktail parties. Some talked to a few friends, others were wall flowers and some were just looking for sex,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2021.
Members of the group of giraffe-loving friends, including Law, regularly travel the country to talk about giraffe conservation. Fewer than 100,000 giraffes still exist throughout Africa, according to Save the Giraffes. Their numbers have dropped 40% in the last three decades due to habitat loss caused by humans seeking land for farming, agriculture and mining operations; civil unrest; and poaching. Global warming and drought also have caused the animals to relocate into new and often dangerous territories.
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Law, an animal lover with five rescued box turtles and a Labrador mix dog, volunteers twice a month at the Denver Zoo, where she prepares food for the giraffes and cleans their area. She also volunteers at the Longmont Humane Society and visits the giraffe herd at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo every other month.
Their gentle nature captured her heart.
“And the fact the babies are 6 feet tall and weigh 150 pounds and have to get up and walk immediately,” she said. “And they’re so loving and I just have such amazing friendships with giraffes. They recognize people.”
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