The giraffe, which gave birth in 2017 during an event watched by people around the world, has died, the New York Zoo said on Friday.
The giraffe, who was 20, was killed due to worsening arthritis which increasingly affected her quality of life, Animal Adventure Park said in a statement. The veterinary team said they were doing their best to make April comfortable, but her condition became so bad that the team could no longer do it.
“We mourn with her many fans, near and far, as we bid farewell to the giraffe that can be attributed to the foothold for raising awareness of giraffes and giraffes in the 21st century,” the Harpursville Zoo said.
More than a million people watched in a live stream when April gave birth to a calf – a male named Tajiri but called Taj – in 2017. His arrival followed weeks of waiting; the zoo even launched a text alert service to keep fans up to date.
In total, more than 232 million views were recorded on YouTube during the weeks before and during the birth.
At one point on the day of Taj’s birth, more than 1.2 million people watched simultaneously, YouTube said. At the time, it was in the top five most-watched live events ever on the video platform, it is said.
The giraffe’s veterinary team said the April euthanasia was the only human action.
Last summer, park staff noticed the 15-foot-long animal behaving differently and was found to have osteoarthritis, the team said. April shifts her weight from leg to leg and lies on the ground more frequently. The vets started treatment and treatment, but the most recent examination showed advanced osteoarthritis and that the irreversible condition is accelerating rapidly, the zoo said.
“The severity of her condition exceeded our ability to control April’s ease,” the veterinary team said.
Giraffes usually live 20 to 25 years in captivity, about a decade longer than in the wild, and April was 20, he said.
“While we knew this day was finally coming, our hearts ached,” said Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park.
April gave birth to another male calf, Aziz, in 2019. Aziz was moved to a zoo in Texas and in 2020 he died of a condition that had a twisted gut. The zoo said the condition is completely unexpected and unpredictable.
