* New Arrival of a different kind *
We were contacted two days ago by a landowner in our area to assist with a giraffe calf that was left abandoned by its mother. Very dehydrated and weak it was evident that the little one was only about 2 – 3 days old. The owner has no idea why mom left him behind and we are hoping that there is nothing internally wrong with the little one.
Our vet Dr Pierre placed an IV catheter and we started administering TPN (intravenous food) immediately. The baby was very comatose for the first 18 hours but started showing signs of waking up. Further IV fluids were administered and it seems like the little boy is getting stronger. He managed to stand up a few times with the help of our carers and walked around this evening on very unsure legs.
Baby giraffes are notorious for being labour intensive and difficult to get on a bottle. And Jazz has proved no different. Their height (about 1.8m) also doesn’t make it any easier. But we have a few tricks up our sleeves that will hopefully pay off.
12 November 2019
* Update on Jazz *
It has been a long night but things are looking up. Jazz just slowly sucked on his first bottle of milk at 7am this morning. He kept on falling asleep between bouts of sucking but what a fantastic start to the day 🎉 One sleepy, content little giraffe❤️ Our anti-poaching and security dog, Hunter has fallen head over heals for the little giraffe and has claimed ownership 😄 since Jazz’s arrival. He stays in the room all day with Jazz and the carers and doesn’t allow his brother Duke close. So concerned was Hunter about Jazz when he was in a coma that he did not want to eat. No that baby is doing better Hunter has his appetite back too. What a special animal he is and so proud to have him on our Team