April the giraffe, whose pregnancy went viral, died at 20

Unfortunately, this is the circle of life.

April, the 18-foot-tall giraffe who rose to fame in 2017 when her upstate zoo began live streaming the last part of her 16-month-old pregnancy, has died aged 20.

Animal Adventure Park, located in Harpursville, New York, near Binghamton, has announced that April needs to be euthanized due to his worsening arthritis, according to ABC.

“We thank and thank the exceptional collective care provided by the park’s veterinarians and animal care team for keeping April happy and healthy during her five-plus year stay at Animal Adventure,” a Facebook post said. of the park. “Both teams have made every effort to keep her comfortable and extend her life while managing her condition. Over the past year, improvements have been made and treatments have been carried out, including changes to the garden substrate, the installation of a state-of-the-art padded flooring system, as well as farrier, dietary and medical changes. The most recent April veterinary exam identified the acceleration of April’s condition, prompting a determination that euthanasia was the humane and appropriate course of action.

She died very well known. In February 2017, Animal Adventure Park drew millions of YouTube viewers to a live feed from a camera perched in its habitat that showed footage of April while pregnant. Among them, 1.2 million viewers alone watched the month of April give birth to a little male named Tajiri, which signifies hope and confidence in the Swahili language. It was the fourth pregnancy in April.

At the time, the April Giraffe Camera was the second most-watched live channel in YouTube history, with north of 232 million visits between February and May 2017.

In 2020, April’s fifth and youngest calf, Azizi, died suddenly in a Texas zoo at the age of 18 months. Azizi had been treated for a parasitic problem and was showing signs of improvement, but died during a vet exam.

After Azizi was born in 2019, Animal Adventure Park announced that April would begin birth control and withdraw from its breeding program.

April’s body is now an hour west of Ithaca, at Cornell University veterinary school, to undergo an autopsy. She will be cremated after the procedure and her ashes will be returned to the animal park.