The Cincinnati Zoo is mourning the loss of Kimba, a 12-year-old giraffe, who died Sunday after a procedure to fix his hooves, the zoo announced.
The Zoo Volunteer Observer team has been monitoring the giraffe barn for weeks, watching a pregnant female for signs of labor, and called vets when members saw Kimba fall to the ground a little after 1 a.m., officials said.The Zoo Volunteer Observer team has been monitoring the giraffe barn for weeks, watching a pregnant female for signs of labor, and called vets when members saw Kimba fall to the ground a little after 1 a.m., zoo officials said.
“Please keep Kimba’s care team in your thoughts. They are devastated,” the zoo wrote on Facebook.
Kimba, 12, sired six calves, and his seventh is on the way.
He came to Cincinnati in 2008 from the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, on a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan. One of his calves, 3-year-old Cora, lives there now.
