Dallas Zoo Mourns the Death of Adult Giraffe Weeks After Losing Baby Giraffe to Serious Injury

Photo: Dallas Zoo (2)

October has been a challenging month for the Dallas Zoo.

On Monday, the zoo posted on Facebook that their 19-year-old giraffe Auggie “passed away this weekend after dealing with age-related health issues that led to liver failure.”

The facility also used their Monday Facebook post to expand on the events that led to Marekani’s death — since it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the animal’s injury when it happened.

“The Dallas Zoo provides the most naturalistic environments possible for our animals, which has so many benefits for both their physical and mental well-being. Unfortunately, those natural surroundings have inherent risks, just as they do in the wild, where giraffes have a 50% mortality rate in their first year of life. While the Giants of the Savanna habitat cannot be made accident-proof, we, alongside giraffe experts in the AZA, have closely evaluated the situation and have identified some changes we will make to help mitigate risks and reduce the chances of future incidents like this,” the zoo added.

In response to their findings, the Dallas Zoo will add “substrate material in areas that showed some erosion, and we also will be installing cameras around the habitat.”

After losing two giraffes in several weeks, the zoo also expressed its appreciation for its thoughtful supporters.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience as we’ve worked through our internal review process following Marekani’s sudden passing earlier this month, as well as the outpouring of support you have shown for our Zoo family as we processed that loss,” the Dallas Zoo wrote on Facebook.

source: people.com