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 practice for virtually all species.
This is done to reduce the overall amount of stomach (ruminal) content and the fluid-nature of that content,” the zoo explained. Despite the many precautions taken, the zoo said it’s believed Matu regurgitated and inhaled ruminal content. “Once he had this foreign material in his lungs, our efforts to revive Matu were never going to be successful,” the zoo said.
The zoo explained there is always a “significant” risk when performing any surgical procedure under general anesthesia on large species such as giraffes. “We want to express our deep gratitude to our community for sending so many supportive, compassionate and thoughtful messages,” the zoo said. “Our grieving team finds comfort in the love and support we have received and we also know the impact Matu had on our broader community as well as our Zoo family.
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