Officials at Zoo Miami say a young giraffe has been euthanized after suffering an apparent spinal injury.
Zoo spokesman Ron Magill told The Miami Herald that the 9-month-old giraffe, Wesley, poked his head between two posts Tuesday to look into an area where another giraffe was being examined by keepers.
Officials say the young giraffe panicked when he couldn’t get his head back out and began to thrash around. Magill said staff members were able to free Wesley after a few minutes, but he had already done significant damage to his spine.
The zoo’s veterinary team worked on the giraffe for several hours before deciding to euthanize him.
Magill said this is the first accident of its kind at the zoo. Workers were closing gaps in the area to prevent similar injuries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Zoo should have been more responsible, too bad. Guess they learned their lesson, too little, too late. Poor Wesley, GLAD the Zoo is working on it not happening again.
Thank You to ALL of the Zoo Keepers and Staff that work here. It is a Thankless job and to anyone who says you have
done anything wrong in this tragedy, Shame on You!! I have seen the tears when an animal loses it’s life while at the Zoo
and the Keepers take it personally. We all learn from unforeseen accidents and this one was tragic but I blame No One.
I just wanted to let you all know that I Blame No One and know that you folks do what you can to keep these animals safe and
healthy.
~Ronda~
I agree! sometimes all the care and precautions STILL can’t avoid an accident such as this!
Remembering super-athletic little Theodore O’Connor, world-famous, 14.1 hh, U.S. and internationsl Eventing horse. (lots of pics, videos and stories on the web about “Teddy”) He was euthanized after a frisky, spooked run in his own barn yard, where he slipped and got a freak,catastrophic cut to his hind leg.
I WOULD say that any bars wide enough for a young giraff to pivot and slip his head through is an accident waiting to happen. Just as horses left out with their halters on can get hung up and killed, because nobody anticipated the danger.