People Around The World Mourning Death Of Kipenzi
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Her name meant "Loved One" in Swahili, and people from around the world who loved baby Kipenzi are mourning her death today.
The three month old giraffe calf was born at the Dallas Zoo, broadcast live on the internet.
She became a star and helped bring awareness to giraffe conservation in the wild, raising thousands of donations for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation in Africa.
"We've been here since she was born. We saw her being born and we're zoo members. We come here all the time," said Maria Silva, who visited the giraffes with her son and granddaughter Wednesday.
Zoo keepers were bringing in the herd for the evening yesterday, when they say Kipenzi was scampering around, playing with her brother. She collided with part of the perimeter edge of her enclosure, and immediately died.
"Honestly nobody saw the specific impact. We heard it. We can tell by the injuries that she made contact with something, but there was nothing in the yard that was out of the ordinary. They were all aspects of the exhibit that she had encountered before," said Harrison Edell, Senior Director of Living Collections at the Dallas Zoo.
A necropsy performed this morning confirmed that Kipenzi died of a broken neck. Zoo officials debriefed today to see if anything could have been done differently. They say the answer is no; that Kipenzi's death is not a question of the safety of her enclosure or human error, but a tragic accident.
Edell says the zoo followed the same pattern of raising Kipenzi in first a small yard before navigating to a larger yard that they followed with the zoo's two baby giraffes that came before her.
Kipenzi's death was reported by the Dallas Zoo to the USDA -- where the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service monitors compliance of zoos according to the Animal Welfare Act.
The USDA most recently inspected the Dallas Zoo on June 15, and found no compliance issues.
An inspection report from August of 2014 included one mention of non-compliance: a keeper error that allowed a lion to temporarily escape from an enclosure into a hallway.
A USDA spokesperson says in all past reports, the agency has found no compliance issues with enclosures or habitats - giraffes included.
The zoo opened as normal on Wednesday and visitors stopped at the Giants of the Savanna exhibit to visit the giraffes and pay respects to zoo staff, who are devastated by Kipenzi's loss.
An atmosphere of sadness hung in the air.
"It's really heartbreaking. I just wonder what they're thinking and how they're feeling. I'm sure they're absolutely devastated," said Amanda Cribbs, a visitor.
Many have asked about Kipenzi's mom, Katie. Zoo keepers let Katie spend a few moments with Kipenzi last night. She's with the herd again today, under the close watch of zoo keepers. So far, they haven't seen any concerns with her behavior.
Zoo officials say giraffes -- hoofstock -- do not mourn the way some animals do. But the zoo community will continue to grieve.
"It's really, really hard to lose a loved one," said Alexis Corona, who visited the giraffes Wednesday.
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