Zahara the Baby Giraffe (July 2024-October 2024)

Zahara was only two months old and the second giraffe to die this year at the Abilene Zoo.  

Giraffes in captivity suffer. Giraffes have complex social relationships and live with their families in the wild. Giraffes live in much smaller groups in zoos and have even been held alone. Zoo enclosures are vastly smaller than their typical range in the wild, and their barren enclosures are far less interesting and dynamic than their home in sub-Saharan Africa.  

Zoos frequently transfer giraffes between facilities to breed more animals, breaking critical bonds. Some giraffes stay with their mothers for life in the wild. But in US zoos, calves are often taken from their mothers at young ages. Falls and accidents are common in zoos, sometimes resulting in the giraffe’s death. Abilene Zoo did not reveal how Zahara injured herself, but giraffes are herd animals who will flee or run when stressed. Multiple giraffes have died from fractures and neck injuries at US zoos. Saba, a baby giraffe, died at the Miami Zoo in April 2024 after running into a fence and breaking her neck. Also in spring 2024, Jabari, a baby giraffe at the Roosevelt Park Zoo in North Dakota, died after getting his head caught in a hay feeder and breaking his neck.  

Giraffe populations are declining in the wild, though their conservation receives far less media attention than elephants and whales. The primary threats to giraffes are habitat destruction from human expansion and agriculture. An estimated 150,000 giraffes lived in the wild in the 1980s. Today, fewer than 70,000 remain. The IUCN only recognizes a single species of giraffe listed as vulnerable. But other scientific bodies recognize four species, the Masai, Southern, Northern, and Reticulated giraffe, along with subspecies.  

World Animal Protection urges everyone who loves giraffes to avoid zoos and enjoy them in the wild or at accredited sanctuaries.