The Dallas Zoo announced Tuesday evening that its newborn giraffe Kipenzi, whose April birth was watched live all over the world, has died. We’re crushed, and everyone here is mourning.
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The zoo encouraged those interested in donating in Kipenzi’s memory, to consider The Giraffe Conservation Foundation, their partner in protecting giraffes in Africa.
“Running is a typical behavior for giraffes of all ages, especially young ones like Kipenzi”, Harrison Edell, the zoo’s senior director of living collections, said in a statement.
Kipenzi was born to Katie, described as one of the friendliest and most charismatic of the zoo’s large herd, on April 10.
The three-month-old calf, Kipenzi, died immediately when she ran into a perimeter edge of the barn that’s part of the Dallas Zoo’s giraffe herd’s habitat and broke three neck vertebrae around 5.30pm.
“To be honest, it hurts terribly”.
‘Please keep our staff in your thoughts.’.
Her mother, Katie, visited the calf before veterinarians removed her body from the habitat.
The zoo is encouraging guests to post photos of Kipenzi and messages of support for the staff on its Facebook and Instagram pages. “We’ve been very cautious with where we’ve allowed Kipenzi to roam, as we were with her siblings … when they were small”.
The zoo says those who wish to remember Kipenzi may want to make a donation to The Giraffe Conservation Fund.
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He said: ‘It’s heartbreaking that this happened where it did despite our precautions.’.
