“Poso”, a male giraffe that, being the tallest in the herd, was among the main attractions of the Miami Zoo (USA), received euthanasia on Monday after fracturing two legs and then aggravating the wound, he reported the Miami Zoo.
“With great sadness, Miami Zoo officials have had to make the difficult decision this morning to sacrifice ‘Poso’, a male giraffe nearly 12 years old and 16 feet (4.87 meters) tall “South Florida Park said in a statement.
Last September, a multidisciplinary team of more than 24 people managed to immobilize “Poso”, weighing almost 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), with two fractured legs, to place custom-made rubber shoes and take -radiographs, an operation that the park described as an “extreme challenge”.
Against all odds, “the immobilization was successful and the team was able to place custom shoes on the animal that seemed to relieve the pain.”
Initially, these prostheses allowed the giraffe to walk normally; but, several weeks after the operation, the shoes came off and at some point he was injured again.
“Poso,” who was born in February 2009 at the Denver, Colorado Zoo and arrived in Miami in November of that year, was immobilized again this Monday to continue his treatment under anesthesia, but had to to practice euthanasia due to the severity of the fracture revealed by the x-rays.
Adult giraffes are among the most difficult animals to anesthetize because of their large size and height, and “death, as a result of not being able to recover from anesthesia, is a serious risk,” the zoo noted in the ‘immobilize for the first time in September.
“Unfortunately, the x-rays revealed that in the last two weeks he had fractured his foot even more in a way that prevented the Animal Health team from treating him successfully,” for which which was the “painful decision” to sacrifice — while under anesthesia, the zoo has detailed.
Since his arrival, “Poso” had become “the favorite of countless guests who had the pleasure of feeding at our giraffe feeding station in Samburu. All who had the pleasure of meeting -they and the privilege of working with him will miss him terribly, “the Miami Zoo wrote.