(CNN) They were among the rarest giraffes to walk the planet, and now they are gone.

The remains of two stunning white giraffes that lived at a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary were found in a skeletal state, rangers at the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy said on Tuesday.

The mother giraffe and her calf were killed by poachers, they said. The Kenya Wildlife Service was called to the reserve after it was reported the giraffes hadn't been seen in quite a while.

Upon finding the bones, wildlife officials estimated they had been there for at least four months.

"This is a very sad day for the community of Ijara and Kenya as a whole. We are the only community in the world who are custodians of the white giraffes," said Mohammed Ahmednoor, manager of the reserve in Garissa County, Kenya, in a news release .

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