What Happens To Animals That Die At The Zoo

By Jemima Laing
BBC Devon

The male calf - named Kito meaning jewel - was built-in on ten Jan 2011

In the wake of any death in that location are many practicalities which need to be attended to and the death of a zoo animal is no different in that respect.

Paignton Zoo'due south latest arrival, a ii-calendar week-sometime male giraffe called Kito, was put to sleep on Monday after developing animate issues.

Keepers had intervened to canteen-feed the Rothschild's giraffe, a species on the endangered list, but Kito was plant to have other health bug.

Then what happens side by side?

"When a zoo animal dies a post-mortem examination is carried out," explained Philip Knowling from the zoo.

"This is both expert do and a requirement of the zoo licensing system - you can learn a huge amount from a post-mortem."

This is echoed by Paignton Zoo'southward head vet Ghislaine Sayers.

"When an creature dies it is an ideal opportunity to screen for sub clinical diseases," said Ghislaine.

Zoo keepers are professionals but they are likewise man

"These are the diseases that the animal has carried with no outward signs.

"They could be age-related changes such every bit arthritis, middle affliction, tumours or organ deterioration or they could be balmy disease caused by pathogens or diseases, such as metabolic bone disease, iron storage disease, zinc toxicity, copper toxicity or deficiency.

"Sub clinical disease can be very hard to discover in living animals but by building up a moving picture of these diseases at post-mortem we can attempt to minimise these problems in other animals."

After the post-mortem the most usual affair is that the remains will be taken off-site to be incinerated - occasionally samples may exist kept for educational or teaching purposes.

"This may include skins or skulls, for case," said Philip.

Kito'due south was his mother Sangha's commencement baby, but Philip does not think she will exist affected by his death.

"Giraffes do not mourn - nearly animals don't. It is often considered a survival strategy - in the wild, animals can't run the risk of hanging around a torso or engaging in that sort of behaviour," said Phil.

"But elephants and some primates are known to exercise some things that can be considered as grieving."

So how do keeping staff react when an animate being in their care dies?

"Staff are certainly affected by the death of an creature - peculiarly ane that has been in their care a long time or which has received a lot of medical attending during an disease," said Philip.

"Keepers usually have a range of other animals to care for, and so have to go on with their busy schedules of cleaning, nutrient training and care."

"Zoo keepers are professionals just they are also man."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9376000/9376703.stm

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