The Rio Grande Zoo is accused of failing to separate its trash in a big way. Garbage collectors were a bit surprised to find a dismembered fully grown giraffe in a garbage bin. It turned out to be Kashka, a beloved animal from the zoo.
Kashka recently was euthanized after suffering a debilitating leg injury in a recent fall. The 16-year-old giraffe was 15 feet tall and weighed about 2,000 pounds. Under state law, the zoo was supposed to send the giraffe to the landfill for burial in a special area. Instead they appeared to look for a really really large hefty bag.
The mayor has called for an investigation.
For the full story, click here.
Thank you TomDArch.
Anonymously Yours 1, March 24, 2010 at 8:07 am
This is incredible. But what do you do with a dead giraffe?
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Because pets die at veterinary clinics with some regularity, all metropolitan areas have services that collect and dispose of the animal remains. (Hopefully legally – through incineration or appropriate landfill.) A whole giraffe would be a little challenging, but if they could chop it up to get it into the dumpster, they could have chopped it up, put it in a walk-in freezer and disposed of it with a few trips from the collection service.
Every pet owner should ask for a full tour of their veterinarian’s clinic/facility, and while no vet clinic is perfectly spotless, it should be in decent shape. (As an architect who designs vet clinics, making vets uncomfortable about their old, run-down clinics makes work for me! That and clean, up-to-date facilities mean better treatment/health for your pets!) During your tour, you’ll probably see a chest freezer somewhere in the back, probably in the vicinity of the back door. That’s where “sleepy” pets are held until the service comes around to take them away.
Though i wouldn’t feed my dead pet to my dog, it would be grokked.
Too bad they weren’t allowed to feed it to the carnivores.
Wow.
First, you take a magnificent animal from its natural environment for entertainment purposes. That’s just stupid, but there is the conservation argument.
Second, you accord it all the respect in death that you would a wad of used paper towels. That’s just inhumane.
Rio Grande Zoo, for your efforts as both humans and supposedly professional zoologists, you get . . . the finger.
Have a day.
I have not had Giraffe, but I under stand that it us a lot like Buffalo sirloin.
They could have sold it to the restaurant Hump as land whale meat. Is Giraffe good with rice?
Awe…..
But couldn’t they have given it a decent burial?
This is incredible. But what do you do with a dead giraffe?