Baby giraffe being born live feed
April the giraffe, who gave birth in a viral livestream, dies aged 20 | New York
April, the giraffe that became a sensation when a rural New York zoo livestreamed her 2017 pregnancy and delivery, was euthanized Friday because of advancing arthritis, the zoo said.
“She is a precious member of our family, and while we knew this day would eventually come, our hearts are hurting,” Animal Adventure Park’s owner, Jordan Patch, said in a statement.
The 20-year-old giraffe started showing signs of mobility problems last summer, and veterinary imaging showed she had arthritis in her feet and problems in her left hind leg, the zoo’s veterinarians said in a statement. They noted that animals as large as giraffes can deteriorate quickly from arthritis.
They said they deployed joint supplements, pain medications, anti-inflammatories, padded flooring, diet changes and trimming April’s hoofs to try to slow the disease’s progression, but her mobility kept declining, and she started spending a lot more time lying down. Imaging in March showed “significant and progressing degeneration” of joints in her lower leg, the vets said.
“The severity of her condition has been outpacing our ability to control April’s comfort,” they said.
Statistics on giraffe life expectancy vary. A Knoxville, Tennessee, zoo giraffe that was said to be the country’s oldest was euthanized at 31 in 2019.
April attracted a huge online audience as she carried her fourth calf in 2017 at the zoo in Harpursville, a village about 130 milesnorth-west of New York City. The giraffe cam became the second most-watched livestream in YouTube history, at least at the time, with more than 232m views and 7.6bn minutes of live watch time over several months.
At least 1.2 million people watched as the male calf, eventually named Tajiri, was born – appropriately enough – in the month of April.
An online fundraising campaign pulled in more than $150,000 for the care of April, her mate and the calf. Other ventures – including a Toys ‘R’ Us sponsorship of the YouTube stream, monetized text messages and a clothing line – also brought money to the zoo.
The owners said it would be used for zoo upkeep, wildlife conservation in Africa and local children with unexpected medical expenses.
“April’s impact on animal conservation and appreciation is both immeasurable and lasting,” Patch said Friday.
But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticized the zoo for turning April’s breeding into an internet event.
“The tragedy here isn’t that April died – it’s that she never knew a life without gawping spectators or livestream cameras,” said the animal-rights group’s supervising veterinarian, Dr Heather Rally.
April had another calf, Azizi, in March 2019, with more than 300,000 people watching live on YouTube. He died at a Texas zoo last October.
Animal Adventure Park said she was put on contraceptives to retire from the breeding program following his birth.
'April The Giraffe' Gives Birth On Popular Livestream : The Two-Way : NPR
Jason Slotkin
Animal Adventure Park said in a press release that April the giraffe will "raise her baby naturally.
" The zoo added that weaning can take up to 14 months. Courtesy of Animal Adventure Park hide caption
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Courtesy of Animal Adventure Park
Animal Adventure Park said in a press release that April the giraffe will "raise her baby naturally." The zoo added that weaning can take up to 14 months.
Courtesy of Animal Adventure Park
Updated at noon ET Sunday
For a large portion of the Internet, patience has finally paid off.
April, a giraffe at New York's Animal Adventure Park, gave birth Saturday on a widely-and-intensely-watched live stream.
Animal Adventure Park YouTube
According to The Associated Press, at least 1.2 million people watched the event on the Animal Adventure Park's YouTube page.
BuzzFeed News has isolated the exact moment of birth and it can be viewed below. Warning: like most live mammal births, it's kind of messy.
OMG April the Giraffe has given birth 🎉 pic.twitter.com/xiZYU90pIY
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 15, 2017
"His entrance into the world was unnerving to even those of us who have witnessed animal births previously," said Animal Adventure Park owner, Jordan Patch in a press release. "Giraffes give birth standing up, which means when the calf is ready to be born, it exits its mother hooves first from six feet off the floor, making for a very exciting event!"
Shortly thereafter, the newborn calf took its first steps.
The feed was launched in February and quickly picked up an intense following of viewers hoping to catch the first glimpses of a baby giraffe. In between the cam's launch and payoff, an apparel line sprang up dedicated to the pregnant April, as well as a GoFundMe page to shower the zoo with funds to care for calf when it arrived.
But in February, viewers were left briefly in the dark after the video was flagged for "nudity and sexual content." The shutdown didn't last long, however, and fervent April watchers were once again allowed their favorite Beckettian pastime.
According to the zoo's Facebook page, the baby giraffe had a check up and is doing well. He weighed 129 pounds and was 5'9 at the time of the post.
The zoo announced in a press release that there will be a naming contest for the new giraffe. You can enter and vote as many times as you would like — though votes cost a dollar each.
Breeders of the Copenhagen Zoo explained why they killed the giraffe Marius
One and a half year old giraffe Marius was killed in the zoo of the capital of Denmark.
Thus, breeders tried to prevent inbreeding - the crossing of animals within the same population. Thousands of people in Denmark signed a petition against the killing of Marius. However, the zoo staff killed him and fed the carcass to the lions. The Moscow Zoo criticized the actions of Danish colleagues.
The employees of the Copenhagen Zoo killed a completely healthy giraffe Marius. On Sunday morning, the 18-month-old giraffe was given his favorite treat, a dish of rye bread. After that, the veterinarian put a nail gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The animal collapsed at the feet of the children crowded around.
Marius' slaughter procedure was presented as a children's educational project, so the event was announced in advance, and parents with children came to it.
Before the eyes of the children, many of whom were six or seven years old, the carcass of a giraffe was butchered. Experts commented on the process in detail, as well as the anatomy of the animal.
"The kids were asking good questions," Bengt Holst, scientific director of the Copenhagen Zoo, told CNN.
“This is a good opportunity to invite our guests to take a look. We are here to educate people, and this is a good way to show people what a giraffe looks like,” Holst explained. “People came with children and without children.
We had a lot of people. Previously, we invited snakes, zebras and goats to butchering. We have a giraffe for the first time.”
Explaining the method of slaughter, Holst said that they did not use sleeping pills and poisons so as not to spoil the meat. The carcass was then given to lions, tigers and leopards for lunch, and a small part was sent to the laboratory for research. “In such cases, we will never throw away 200 kg of excellent meat,” Holst said.
27,000 people who signed the petition opposed the killing of the giraffe. Until the last minute, they urged the zoo management to change their mind. There was a fierce debate on the zoo's Facebook page.
As a result, the administration of the institution published on its website an interview with Bengt Holst, who explained the reasons for slaughtering Marius.
The giraffe was killed to maintain genetic diversity.
In the enclosures of European zoos, animals are kept together, their mating is not controlled. When too many animals are born with the same genes, the breeders kill the extra animals to prevent inbreeding by crossing within the same population. The ban on inbreeding is spelled out in the rules of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which also includes the Moscow Zoo.
The number of animals with the same genes as Marius turned out to be too large. It was impossible to transfer it to other zoos in Europe, since there were also animals related to it.
In the end, the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums agreed on the need to kill the giraffe. “For successful breeding, it is sometimes necessary to slaughter animals,” says Holst. He notes that among the principles of the animal breeding program is the well-being of the animal throughout its life, no matter how long or short it may be.
Marius' advocates offered other options - to sterilize the giraffe, give him contraceptives, or transfer him to one of the zoos that are not part of the breeding program.
However, Holst stated that contraceptives and sterilization negatively affect the animal's health. And this would already be a violation of the principle of well-being. When asked about transferring the giraffe to another zoo, Holst was somewhat vague, pointing out that their zoo must adhere to certain rules, including a ban on the sale of animals. He did not say anything about the free transfer of the giraffe. It would also be too cruel to release the beast into the wild, since the natural environment is full of dangers and Marius would have little chance of survival.
Holst noted that alive Marius would fill the place for another, more genetically advantageous animal for the zoo.
Meanwhile, representatives of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, confirming their agreement with the procedure, noted that few animals are killed as part of measures to preserve genetic purity: usually sick animals are killed.
The Danes stated that 20-30 animals are slaughtered every year due to inbreeding, including goats, antelopes and wild boars. “We have the first giraffe. I don’t understand the outrage – we are all used to the current situation in the animal world (the zoo), which is based on the situation in the wild, Holst said. “We have to provide a healthy population, and for this we need to control and coordinate breeding efforts.”
The European Association of Zoos and Aquariums has 347 zoos. They always dreamed of having a giraffe of either gender. In the last few years, the giraffe breeding program has borne fruit, enough to close the gap.
What's more, there have been two cases of euthanasia of surplus animals in Europe since 2012, told The Guardian Jörg Jebram, curator of the European Giraffe Endangered Animal Program.
As part of the breeding program, a group of females is kept together with one male. All cubs are necessarily separated from their group as soon as they reach puberty.
Young females are usually transferred to create a new breeding group, while males are transferred to zoos where groups of males are kept. When there are no females nearby, they can coexist peacefully, without fights.
“Zoos can fund giraffes, but many don't. A young male could theoretically be sent to the female group, but many experts prefer to use more mature animals for breeding, explains Jabram. - The option of sending Marius to a zoo that is not part of the association was not suitable, as this would have threatened worse conditions for the giraffe, he could end up in a circus or a private zoo. It must also be remembered that Marius was not a representative of a rare subspecies.
Contraceptives are not recommended for use in giraffes due to a pronounced sedative effect. From these drugs, giraffes periodically fall asleep. “And when they are passed out, their fragile neck can break,” the expert added.
The actions of colleagues are negatively assessed at the Moscow Zoo.
“The position of the Moscow Zoo is completely different from that of a number of European zoos,” Anna Kachurovskaya, press secretary of the Moscow Zoo, told Gazeta.ru. - They have a practice of breeding animals without prior order for cubs or without the possibility of maintenance. This is done as an attraction for the public, because the public loves young and beautiful cubs. Then, when there is nowhere to keep the animal, it is killed.
Why the Copenhagen Zoo made this an educational event, it's hard for us to say. It was surprising, to say the least."
Kachurovskaya noted that visitors to the Moscow Zoo often complain that there are many elderly animals in the enclosures. “But this is our civil position. We do not euthanize an animal, only in extreme cases, when it gets sick, suffers. We consider it important to show that there are old animals in the world. Also, we never breed an animal if we have nowhere to keep it, ”explains a representative of the zoo. Kachurovskaya noted that mating cannot happen suddenly, it is always a planned stage.
Therefore, females are kept separately from males.
A baby giraffe was born in the Krasnoyarsk Zoo | SOCIETY
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Krasnoyarsk, October 21 - AIF-Krasnoyarsk.
A baby giraffe was born in the Roev Ruchey Zoo. A small giraffe weighing about 50 kg and 180 cm tall was born on Sunday, 19October. This is the first giraffe born in Krasnoyarsk and Siberia in general.
The female giraffe refused to feed the baby. She began to behave aggressively and began to scare the cub. Now the little giraffe is fed artificially. Every three hours he is given a mixture of milk and quail eggs, as well as vitamins and substances to strengthen bone and cartilage tissue, drugs to support digestion and strengthen immunity.
