Friendly giraffe’s death worries conservationists
A tourist feeds Tangi earlier at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe recently. Tangi was found dead in her holding yesterday morning. PHOTO BY Martin Ssebuyira.
What you need to know:
It succumbed intestine obstruction on Monday night.
Entebbe
The mood at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) and among wildlife enthusiasts countrywide is somber following the sudden death of Tangi, a giraffe loved for being receptive to feeding by tourists.
UWEC keepers found Tangi, 6, lying dead in her holding after succumbing to intestine obstruction.
“We carried out early postmortem and found the intestines obstructed with some having ‘puce’ that could have killed the giraffe,” Ms Belinda Atim, UWEC spokesperson told the Daily Monitor yesterday.
“We, however, took samples of her tongue, gal bladder, liver, heart to Makerere pathological lab to get the actual cause of death,” she added. She said Tangi was the first giraffe to embrace ‘behind the scene programme’ where tourists feed giraffes at the animal centre.
“She first fell ill and our veterinary doctors administered her with de-wormers and she was responding positively. We were all astonished to see her dead,” she added.
Ms Atim disclosed that Tangi belonged to the Rothschild giraffes family that are highly endangered and was brought to the centre for conservation education after which the off springs were to be taken back to the wild.
