GIRAFFE BABY UPDATE

((EDITOR’S NOTE: New photos of Bakari are attached. Dr. Roy Burns is available for questions today, March 17, from 3:15 to 3:45 p.m. You can also get footage/photos of Bakari in the giraffe yard at this time. Please sign in at the front desk.))
 

Baby giraffe Bakari (Pronounced bah-KAH-ree) is certainly living up to the meaning of his name, “hopeful,” as he begins to show more mobility and fullness of life.

“Bakari started out life slowly, but he is catching up,” Louisville Zoo veterinarian Dr. Roy Burns said.

Bakari is currently eating well and through exercising, is now standing for hours at a time instead of minutes.

The Louisville Zoo’s veterinary team, still concerned about Bakari’s mobility, recently took him to see equine expert Dr. Scott Bennett with Equine Services in Simpsonville, Ky.

Through digital X-rays of Bakari’s legs, Bennett determined Bakari has an angular limb deformity in each of his rear legs, where one side of his bones are growing faster than the other forcing Bakari to wobble and walk sideways.

“Dr. Bennett said the deformity probably started inutero, and that he sees many horse foals with the same problem,” Burns said.

Bennett then performed periosteal stripping, a brief surgical procedure that speeds bone growth on the short side of the leg.

As far as Bennett and Burns know, this is the first periosteal stripping ever performed on a giraffe.

“We are hopeful after this procedure that Bakari will show improvement within a month,” Burns said.

For now, staff is keeping a close eye on Bakari—his bandages should come off later this week. He is continuing to be bottle fed and is routinely exercised by staff, sometimes even coming outside in the giraffe yard at various times of the day.

 

BACKGROUND

Masai giraffe Bakari was born at the Louisville Zoo on Tuesday, February 17.

Since he couldn’t stand to nurse, the Zoo’s veterinary team conducted a plasma transfer where horse immunoglobulins (or antibodies) were transfused into the giraffe through an intravenous line. Two plasma transfers were necessary to establish a protective immune system. He was also given life-saving fluids through the intravenous line to keep him hydrated while staff worked on getting him accustomed to bottle-feeding.

Bakari also initially had trouble standing on his own for long periods. He is being hand-raised and is the 19th calf born at the Zoo.

There are four Masai giraffes at the Louisville Zoo— baby Bakari; mother Malaika, an 11 -year-old female; Mariah, a 21-year-old female; and Walker, a 14-year-old male.