Zoo report: Giraffe died of broken neck

SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. – A young giraffe that died at a Pennsylvania zoo last month suffered a broken neck after it leaned into an adjoining stall and was injured by his father, authorities said.

The blow over Memorial Day weekend at the Lehigh Valley Zoo left Ernie with its neck between the bars of a human catwalk high on a wall separating the stalls, and the 6-year-old Masai giraffe was beyond saving, the (Allentown) Morning Call reported.

Zoo president and CEO Melissa Borland released a report Friday with the details of the death. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is reviewing it.

Officials said Ernie had been removed from his father, 16-year-old Murphy, after displaying aggressive behavior on May 27, a day after arriving from the Kansas City Zoo.

Early morning May 28, Ernie apparently reached through the rails of the stall-spanning catwalk. Investigators believe the animal suffered a blow from Murphy in the adjoining stall, fracturing the vertebrae and preventing Ernie from pulling his head from the railing. Borland said there’s no way to tell whether the contact was aggressive or playful.

Staff members found Ernie bleeding and unable to get free from the railing shortly after. The animal was freed after a vet applied a sedative and the railing bars were removed. But Borland said Ernie died a few hours later.

Borland said she has been warning other facilities with similar catwalk setups.

“We want to make sure, across the board, that this never happens again,” she said.

Borland said it’s unclear how the accident could have been prevented.

She said she doesn’t know whether the 29-acre zoo inside the Trexler Nature Preserve will acquire another giraffe. Staff worried that word of Murphy’s suspected role in Ernie’s death would alarm the public, but since then, he has only demonstrated his fondness for people, she said.

“Wild animals react to one another in sometimes unpredictable ways,” she said. “But Murphy is loving. He gives kisses. He’s a spectacular animal and there’s no risk to the public whatsoever.”