April, the giraffe, who went viral with the birth in 2017, is dead

April, the giraffe, who gave birth in 2017 in an event watched by people around the world, has died, the New York Zoo where she lived announced on Friday.

The 20-year-old giraffe was euthanized due to worsening arthritis increasingly affecting his quality of life, Animal Adventure Park said in a statement. The vet team said they had done their best to make April comfortable, but her condition had deteriorated to such an extent that the team could no longer do it.

“We mourn with his many fans, near and far, as we say goodbye to the giraffe who can be credited with gaining a foothold in the conservation awareness of giraffes and giraffes in the 21st century,” the zoo said. of Harpursville.

Over a million people watched live when April gave birth to a calf – a male named Tajiri but called Taj – in 2017. Her arrival follows weeks of waiting; the zoo even launched a text alert service to keep fans in the know.

In total, over 232 million views were recorded on YouTube in the weeks leading up to and during the birth.

At one point on Taj’s day of birth, more than 1.2 million people were watching simultaneously, YouTube said. At the time, it was among the five most-watched live events of all time on the video platform, he said.

The giraffe vet team said April’s euthanasia was the only human course of action.

Last summer, park staff noticed the 15-foot-tall animal behaving differently and suffering from osteoarthritis, the team said. April shifted her weight from one leg to the other and lay on the floor more often. Vets began treatment and management, but the most recent examination showed advanced osteoarthritis and the irreversible disease was accelerating at a rapid rate, the zoo said.

“The severity of his condition exceeded our ability to control April’s comfort,” said the veterinary team.

Giraffes typically live 20 to 25 years in captivity, about a decade longer than in the wild, and April 20 was April 20, according to the release.

“As we knew that day would eventually come, our hearts ache,” said Jordan Patch, owner of Animal Adventure Park.

Avril gave birth to another male calf, Aziz, in 2019. Aziz was transferred to a zoo in Texas and in 2020 died of an illness involving a twisted gut. The zoo said the condition was completely unexpected and inevitable.