With the sudden death of the only giraffe in the National Zoological Park here on Tuesday morning, the authorities are still mourning the tragedy. Born and brought up in the Zoo, Ankit was the last surviving offspring of the giraffe pair brought to Delhi Zoo from Kolkata way back in 1997-98. The pair had given birth to seven giraffes, all of whom are now dead.
The eight-year-old giraffe weighing 500 kilogramme was found dead in his enclosure on early Tuesday morning with slight salivation from his mouth. “It is really sad for us that the only giraffe in the zoo died all of a sudden. According to the post-mortem reports, the giraffe died due to myocardial and kidney failure,” Dr N Panneer Selvam, senior veterinarian at the Delhi Zoo told The Pioneer.
On Monday evening, he had his usual diet containing seasonal fruits like bananas, beans with green fodder and tree fodder. But after the night sleep, he never woke up to entertain visitors on Tuesday. Dr Selvam said the giraffe did not show any symptoms of illness before. However, zoo officials denied the death was due to the summer heat or any other carelessness by the authorities in taking care of animals to stay fit during summer months.
Giraffe, being a popular animal among children, will not be seen in the zoo from now on. The visitors who showed up to have a look at the tall animal went sad after seeing an empty chamber where Ankit used to stay. Meanwhile, zoo officials have buried the body and preparations are on to fill the empty enclosure again. Now the top-most priority of zoo officials is to get a pair of giraffes in its wing. In India, zoo gets a pair of giraffes from Kolkata and Mysore only. Dr Selvam said the pair will help in breeding so that the zoo has a family of giraffe like earlier. “If we do not get a pair from India, we will get them from overseas,” he added.