Dubai: A female giraffe at Emirates Park Zoo which had a stillborn calf trapped in its birth canal during labour was rescued by Al Ain Zoo’s veterinary team recently.
The mother giraffe remained in labour for several hours. Al Ain Zoo’s veterinary team were called after it became clear the giraffe was facing difficulty delivering the calf naturally, which was putting her health at risk. The team decided to immobilise her and use the traction method to extract the stillborn calf.
Dr Arshad Toosy, Veterinary Services Manager at Al Ain Zoo, said: “Giraffes are one of the most difficult species to immobilise due to their unique anatomy and physiology. Despite the development of newer and safer drugs as well as improved monitoring equipment, their anaesthesia still remains a major challenge. They are considered a high-risk species to chemically capture and accidental deaths can occur during the immobilisation. However, due to our experienced team who carefully pre-planned, immobilised and monitored the giraffe during the entire procedure, we managed to successfully save the giraffe from a potentially life-threatening situation.”
Commenting on the rescue, Muna Al Daheri, Chief of Conservation and Education at Al Ain Zoo said: “Al Ain Zoo has established an integrated clinical service for wildlife conservation in which a team of specialists provide first-rate care and expert medical management for an animal’s medical case in zoos anywhere in the region, with the full support of our state-of-the-art veterinary laboratory. We are proud to have been able to extend our veterinary consultancy services to the distressed giraffe, which is a strategic component to our position as a leading organisation is wildlife conservation and protection.”
Al Ain Zoo’s veterinary team currently consists of 21 specialists, with five full-time practising veterinarians supported by one nurse and five technicians. The veterinarians design, implement and supervise the veterinary care and biosecurity programme, while technicians are responsible for assisting the veterinarians in their clinical activities and maintaining all animal records.
Al Ain Zoo, home to internationally important conservation programmes, is an active member of the World Association for Zoo and Aquaria (WAZA) and is involved in several internationally coordinated conservation projects, working with other like-minded organisations such as Durrell Wildlife, Jersey; Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi; the Species Survival Commission; San Diego Zoo; the Northern Rangelands Trust of Kenya; and the Sahara Conservation Fund.
