Ranging from 16-18 feet, giraffes are one of the most recognizable animals on the planet. However, a great deal of people are unaware of the numerous problems these magnificent animals endure in their natural environments.

The nonprofit organization Save Giraffes Now (SGN), based in Preston Hollow, works to aid these beautiful creatures.

CEO and founder Susan Myers brought her success from multiple careers — from what might feel like several lifetimes — to the nonprofit.

Myers started out her professional career working in business after getting a degree in French from Wellesley College and an MBA from Harvard Business. She worked for J.P. Morgan for over a decade, traveling the globe and meeting her now-husband. After becoming a true Texan obsessed with football, Myers went on to become one of a few female football coaches; she won a state championship with Bishop Lynch and wrote a book on coaching linebackers.

This still wasn’t the end for Myers.

Myers worked closely with giraffes as she served on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Zoological Society and the Zoo’s Wildlife Committee.

“[When starting SGN,] I wanted to do something more entrepreneurial and hands-on and active,” Myers says. “One thing nice about working at the zoo a bit was you get to know different species. So I got to spend more time with giraffes, a kind of up close and personal. I had been in Africa and just seen them from a distance. I’ve kind of really fallen in love with them. They’re the nice guys of the animal world. They’re also very forgotten in conservation. But there’s only 117,000 giraffes left. So, that’s why I started SGN about five and a half years ago.”

Giraffes suffer genetic challenges because many of them live in isolated pockets where they are unable to mix gene pools. Furthermore, the species is threatened by poaching for commercial bushmeat, which can be marketed and used to fund terrorist groups.

“The first thing [in conservation] was elephants, rhinos and lions,” Myers says. “Giraffes keep getting left [when] trying to spread the word. When you go to Africa, and you see giraffes you think they’re okay, but they’re in so many small pockets.”

SGN focuses on three main areas in giraffe conservation: anti-poaching, coexistence and rewilding.

Anti-poaching operations include funding armed rangers and community scouts to search for and remove snares. In addition, SGN sponsors repairs and new boats to reduce poaching caused by people crossing rivers at night. SGN also utilizes animals to safeguard other creatures — many scouts use camels for transportation and have trained dogs to detect poachers.

“[Poachers] cut up the [giraffe] meat and put it in water barrels, which look like they’re carrying water, which everyone in Africa [carries],” Myers says. “But they have the giraffe meat in the boat hidden in the bottom, that’s how they get through checkpoints. They take it to the markets and sell it as bushmeat, which is illegal­ — you cannot sell giraffe meat in Kenya. They make money and it helps fund terrorists.”

Coexistence projects are meant to make life simpler for giraffes by involving other species and humans. Many countries construct power lines that are too low and could harm giraffes. SGN funds the raising of these powerlines in order to protect the giraffes. Furthermore, several invasive species prevent water availability, thus SGN removes them from the area. Many giraffe mortalities have occured when they cross a major highway connecting Nairobi to the port of Mombasa. SGN is working to install signage or speed barriers in these areas to prevent accidental giraffe fatalities.

“If there’s ever a way to hire people to do the work instead of machines and local people, instead of outsiders, we try to do that,” Myers says. “Most of the clearing of the invasive species we’re able to do by hand, but sometimes we have to bring in a bulldozer. There’s a highway right through a wildlife area that does have a lot of giraffes and sometimes the giraffes try to cross the highway, which has now become like a full-bore six lane highway. We have some giraffe mortalities, as well as a lot of zebras and other mortalities.”

Rescue and rewilding efforts include moving giraffes between habitats to improve gene pools or even out sex ratios. In 2020, SGN announced an ambitious proposal to reintroduce the Rothschild’s giraffes, one of the most endangered species of giraffes, to the Eastern Rift Valley, where they were extinct 70 years ago. After months of planning and training, all nine stranded giraffes were successfully relocated to the Ruko Community Conservancy in early 2021.

The project gained international attention from news outlets such as CNN, BBC and People Magazine. When a photographer who had connections with Disney got a hold of the story, National Geographic filmed Saving Giraffes: The Long Journey Home which details the journey of moving the giraffes to the Ruko facility.

“I feel a big bond with the species, maybe because Americans love an underdog: I’m an underdog in giraffe conservation, and my species is an underdog in conservation,” Myers says. “I have met the most wonderful people, whether it’s the local folks up at Ruko, who are like family, or the people I’m so blessed to work with. We’re a very small group, we’re only about six employees, three here and three in Africa. But I just can’t imagine my life without those people. I feel like this is what all my other careers were leading to. I have a real sense of mission and a calmness and peace that I know what I’m supposed to be doing.”

To support SGN’s mission of saving giraffes, donations can be made on their website. In addition, you can purchase giraffe artwork, water bottles or spread the word about SGN.