Giraffe dies after its neck gets stuck in tree

Obbana Rajah A ten year-old male giraffe, Hai Rong, was trying to use a tree to scratch an itch on its neck when it got caught in between branches. The incident took place earlier this week at a zoo in Kunming of China’s Yunnan Province.

Zoo keepers sawed the branch off to save the giraffe. They held its head up with a ladder in case it got choked. Vets also rushed to the site for rescue but to no avail.

The giraffe had been living at the zoo for five years until its bizarre death pic.twitter.com/BagOxQ9mVO — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) April 17, 2018 A total of six zookeepers and veterinarians rushed to try to free the giraffe, and their efforts lasted for about five hours. When they did finally manage to cut away the branch though, the giraffe fell to the ground. Along with severe neck injuries, the Hai Rong giraffe suffered from stress due to the incident as well as heart and lunch complications. According to a local newspaper in Kunming, the Spring City Evening news, the zoo has plans to preserve the giraffe’s body. Furthermore, a member of staff at the zoo told reporters, “We will investigate into the dangers of the animals’ cages”.

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obbana@theindependent.sg