World's only white giraffe is fitted with GPS tracking in a bid to protect it

The only known white giraffe in the world has been fitted with a GPS tracking device to help protect it from poachers as it grazes in Kenya. 

The male white giraffe now stands alone after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in March, the Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy said in a statement Tuesday. Despite its singular status, the lonely male doesn't have a name.

A rare genetic trait called leucism causes the white colour, and it makes the one surviving giraffe stand out dangerously for poachers in the arid savannah near the Somalia border.

Now the GPS tracking device, attached to one of the giraffe's horns, will ping every hour to alert wildlife rangers to its location.

The Giraffe Conservation Foundation says the total number of giraffes in Africa has dropped by 30 per cent since the 1980s and up to 95 per cent in some areas.