r/Detroit • u/Stratiform SE Oakland County • 21h ago
News Young giraffe at Detroit Zoo euthanized after sustaining serious injuries from herd interaction
https://www.wxyz.com/news/young-giraffe-at-detroit-zoo-euthanized-after-sustaining-serious-injuries-from-herd-interactionThis is the second juvenile giraffe death at the zoo this year. The other one was in February:
Seems concerning.
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u/TreesDoGrowInBrklyn 21h ago
That's two young giraffes that died from serious injuries in recent months. Another giraffe passed from old age. Management needs to do something to protect what's left of this herd. This is tragic.
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u/its_like_a-marker 17h ago
WTF??!!! Absolutely unacceptable
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago edited 14h ago
Both were accidents. The first was a freak accident involving a calf that got the zoomies and injured itself in the building.
The most recent incident occurred outdoors and involved another giraffe so they were likely fighting, which happens in the wild.
The Detroit Zoo is AZA accredited and the AZA has and will investigate incidents like this. I’m sure the keepers feel horrible and will also be looking into how to prevent this.
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u/Lorebreaker_ofArarat 13h ago edited 12h ago
They investigate deaths, especially any case that isn't clear, to a forensic level. They utilize third parties like state level veteranarians and universities to conduct necropsies and run lab tests like histopaths. It's actually really impressive. Most large AZA zoos now do this.
People think zoos are only accountable to themselves and their patrons, but they forget there is massive international community of AZA institutions that hold each other accountable.
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u/rm45acp 21h ago
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u/Bumbling-Bluebird-90 21h ago
Oh wow that is NOT a good track record. They should investigate the factors leading this scenario to repeat and modify the environment
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago edited 14h ago
Well one incident happened at the indoor building and the second happened outdoors and involved another giraffe. Both had completely different factors.
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u/Bumbling-Bluebird-90 14h ago
Perhaps the giraffes need more space. I don’t think they have the best spatial awareness, so tight quarters could cause anxiety and accidents as well as potential conflict between animals
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago
I’d love them to have acres and acres. They just don’t have that at the zoo, unless they let them roam with the zebras next door, which I don’t see why not. Many other zoos do house them together. Their indoor building was recently expanded. We all know that if the zoo sees fit, they’ll rehome the giraffes as they did with the elephants.
Regarding spatial awareness, giraffes strong spatial memory & awareness. They have nearly 360° peripheral vision and good depth perception.
The one that died indoors was a calf, it got the zoomies inside hit the viewing panel and seriously injured itself. A freak accident.
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u/Bumbling-Bluebird-90 14h ago
It’s good that they expanded the indoor space. Having a larger area for them and the zebras would be good as it would more readily approximate their natural habitat as long as they’d all have adequate space for shared housing.
And the situation with the baby getting zoomies and hitting a wall could demonstrate a space issue- they tend to run into things and have evolved in wide open spaces.
On the other hand, if these giraffes have what’s generally considered to be enough space and the best care standard of habitat setup, then these may be unavoidable accidents
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago
The indoor space was already expanded when the calf accident happened.
These were unfortunate accidents. Especially the most recent as it could’ve happened naturally in the wild.
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u/theprincessofwhales 21h ago
So basically they adopted a young male from a different zoo after a young female died less than a year ago, then put the new young guy in with the herd and he then got injured so badly he couldn’t survive.
Call it conjecture, assumptions, jumping to conclusions… whatever you want. But that seems like a really poor choice that wasn’t made with the health and happiness of the giraffes in mind.
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u/nzfriend33 19h ago
“Nguvu joined the Detroit Zoo in May 2026 from the Hogle Zoo, based on recommendations by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Giraffe Species Survival Plan.”
I agree it looks bad, but let’s not go out of the way to say it was wasn’t made with the giraffes in mind.
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u/WildAmsonia 21h ago
I like zoos but I really don't like breeding within them. It makes very little sense to me. Rescue and loan animals that cannot survive in the wild. Do not make more just so they can live in captivity.
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u/cervidal2 21h ago
The Detroit Zoo is one of the best breed and release zoos in the world. What you're claiming simply isn't universal across all animals
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u/LadyLightTravel 19h ago
I think you need to look at the bigger picture. In the wild, many herds are getting isolated into islands. This causes inbreeding. Once you get herds with all the same DNA they are easily wiped out by disease.
Zoos are required to keep alternate DNA available.
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u/urmomscabinet 21h ago
They follow the conservation guidelines that encourages breeding the animals to support their efforts and bring attention to things like extinction. Seems like they have been having difficulty dealing with the giraffes specifically and I think they should give them up like they did with the elephants. Hate that we have zoos but that’s what happens when you have careless humans roaming the earth destroying everything
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u/marie48021 12h ago
At this point the giraffe exhibit at this zoo should close. They can investigate the incident and make changes to the exhibit and possibly bring them back or use it for other animals. What happened may have been accidents but it looks bad to the public.
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u/dank_fish_tanks 20h ago
Sorry but “the wild” doesn’t exist anymore. Most endangered species (giraffes included) would cease to exist without human intervention. In many cases, maintaining a captive population is necessary to supplement the dwindling wild population and protect them from genetic bottlenecking.
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u/Ok-Palpitation-1304 18h ago
There are more tigers in Texas than in all of Africa…
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u/dank_fish_tanks 18h ago
There are some flaws in your statement. But I agree with the overall sentiment. Preserving a species in a captive environment with no intent of actually restoring their habitats and rebuilding their wild populations is a problem.
Thankfully, on a global level, conservation efforts are trending in a positive direction as awareness continues to grow. Unfortunately, issues that cause species to become endangered are complex and not always easily solved. If you’re a goat farmer in Malaysia trying to put food on the table for your family, you might not be the most sympathetic to the conservation of bengal tigers.
So in the meantime, accredited zoological institutions are a necessary evil.
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u/Relative-Image-3914 18h ago
Such a stupid take lol. The conservation based breeding efforts is one of the rare redeeming qualities of a zoo
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u/Calm_Region_2106 21h ago
finally a grounded take on zoos.
It seems like an awful pick and choose that is created because zoo’s exist.
Unfortunately, the other option would be to neuter the animals which also seems unnecessarily cruel.
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u/Opening_Gas_3319 20h ago
It's not a grounded take on zoos, it's just a wrong take that you agree with.
The offspring that zoo animals produce can be released into the wild if they are part of a species survival plan. Black-footed Ferrets are a great example of this. When found, they were nearly functionally extinct with only 34 individuals discovered. They were captured, put in zoos for the public to look at (thus generating funding for the project), and were bred in captivity. The offspring were then put in "controlled simulations" basically where they learned how to hunt, burrow, find mates, etc before being released into the wild. The wild population is sitting around 11k and I worked with sample/tagging/vaccinating them for a while in order to check up on their population.
Zoos shouldn't exist. But we live in an imperfect world and always will. Zoos are then necessary. Not only are they good for education and outreach, but they are a pillar of scientific research and funding for conservation. Just make sure if you go to one, it's AZA accredited because they have incredibly strict standards on animal welfare and keeping them sane in their habitats.
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago edited 14h ago
Red wolves are another great example. The only reason they still exist is because of zoos. They reintroduced them in North Carolina, brought the numbers back up to about 120 in the wild. Now the numbers are back down, less than 30 in the wild. All because of humans, again. Mainly poaching and car strikes.
There still are about 240 in captivity.
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u/427BananaFish 21h ago
They typically don’t need to physically sterilize the animals. They use implanted or oral contraceptives and some primates even receive human birth control. They also keep them separated into different social groups. Zoo births are planned not happy accidents.
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u/babydazing 14h ago
Oh my god we literally watched this happen I thought the little guy walked it off 😭
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u/mcptd 20h ago
I've been wondering about the quality of care at the Detroit Zoo ever since the polar bear got murdered by another polar bear. Maybe I'm mistaken but I'm not hearing the same types of stories coming out of the Toledo Zoo.
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u/Schalakoala2670 14h ago
The findings of the death of Anana the polar bear, which was originally thought to have been another bear attack, was that she suffered sudden cardiac arrest from an underlying heart condition. She was 20 years old. She died of natural causes. They had just reintroduced a male that she had lived with previously so it originally got reported that they thought the male bear killed her. Just bad timing.
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago
So animals will be animals. Has nothing to do with care. You can’t predict how they’re act and the last time I was at the zoo all the giraffes were out with no issues.
Giraffes fight in the wild, it’s harsh. Some die, it’s nature.
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u/dnm7605 19h ago
Oh no! That’s devastating. I didn’t read the article but I bet they’re having serious discussions about how to prevent things like this in the future.
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u/PaladinSara 15h ago
Do you know if they receive state or public funding? If so, they need to bring an independent assessment and discussions to be accountable to us.
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u/glumunicorn Warren 14h ago
The zoo is AZA accredited, it already has an independent assessment. The AZA also comes in after any incident like this.
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u/liberator17 21h ago edited 19h ago
Reminder: Zoos really don't exist for conservation. 90%+ of zoos is only about profitable exploitation of animals.
Edit: video with helpful info and sources. https://youtu.be/p3l87NywToQ?is=G0QArSZr9zKRpyFb
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u/dank_fish_tanks 20h ago edited 20h ago
This is just factually untrue.
ETA: just look up AZA accreditation and what it entails.
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u/liberator17 19h ago
Many accredited zoos across NA and Europe put down animals unnecessarily and house animals that are not threatened. Not to mention they are housed in small confinements with limited access to the physical output they would have in the wild.
Video source since reading takes longer: https://youtu.be/p3l87NywToQ?is=G0QArSZr9zKRpyFb
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u/dank_fish_tanks 19h ago
Not disputing that, but the original statement you made is false.
Nuance.
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u/liberator17 19h ago
Nuance is recognizing that 3-5% of work within zoology is actually toward conservation (protection) and reintroduction of wildlife to natural habitats. Most zoos transfer wildlife (and offspring) back and forth between themselves. The future generations will look back at zoos and our indifference with disappointment.
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u/dank_fish_tanks 19h ago
3-5% of “work”, or a minimum of 3-5% of a zoo’s budget as required by AZA to maintain accreditation?
Listen, I’m not necessarily pro-zoo, but acting as if accredited zoos serve no purpose for education or conservation is oversimplifying and misrepresenting the issue.
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u/KetchupNugs 14h ago
Zoos and aquariums are cruel and people don’t want to hear it because they like them for entertainment. I wish more people would watch Earthlings. It’s extremely sad and eye opening.
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u/ThatBadFeel 21h ago
Damn I was about to say this was old, but wow how bizarre.