The Toronto Zoo says a beloved young giraffe died this week after regurgitating his stomach contents during a surgical procedure . Matu under general anesthesia during a castration procedure on Thursday when he stopped breathing. “The last 24 hours has been incredibly difficult at your Toronto Zoo following the sudden passing of Matu, the two-year-old Masai giraffe yesterday,” the zoo said in a statement released Friday.
The zoo said staff and volunteers gathered Friday morning for a “beautiful smudging ceremony,” led by their Indigenous Relations team at the Giraffe Habitat, and other giraffes “looked on from their outdoor yard.” “Amani, Mstari and Kiko, the three remaining giraffes, are doing very well and do not appear to be impacted by his loss,” the zoo said. A necropsy was performed Friday on Matu and the zoo said the “most significant preliminary finding was that of stomach content in Matu’s lungs – a finding that explains the respiratory, then cardiac arrest that occurred.
” “The regurgitation of material from the rumen (part of the stomach) is a well-recognized risk when animals that regurgitate their food (such as cows, sheep, deer, and giraffes – all referred to as ruminants) are anesthetized,” the zoo said. “This is why we took detailed precautions to minimize this risk by modifying Matu’s diet in the lead-up to this procedure.” “Fasting in the days leading up to being under anesthetic is a widely recognized and adopted practic.