Toronto Zoo shares what led to 2-year-old giraffe's death

Matumaini (Matu), an endangered Masai giraffe born at the Toronto Zoo on Feb. 25, 2022, died on July 25. (The Toronto Zoo photo)

The Toronto Zoo has shared the cause of death for a young giraffe that passed away on Thursday.

The zoo provided on Friday the preliminary results of a necropsy done on its youngest giraffe, Matu, who died on Thursday morning while under general anesthesia for a castration procedure. According to the facility, thetwo-year-old giraffe regurgitated stomach content during the procedure, resulting in respiratory and cardiac arrest.

“The most significant preliminary finding was that of stomach content in Matu’s lungs – a finding that explains the respiratory, then cardiac arrest that occurred,” the zoo said in a statement.

It noted that regurgitation of material from the stomach is a well-recognized risk when animals such as giraffes, cows, sheep, and deer are anesthetized.

The zoo said it modified Matu’s diet leading up to the procedure, indicating that the giraffe fasted a few days prior to reduce the amount of stomach content.

“Despite these precautions and many others, and although we saw no evidence of ruminal content in his nose or mouth when he was routinely intubated, we believe Matu regurgitated and inhaled ruminal content, which led to his death,” the facility said.

“Once he had this foreign material in his lungs, our efforts to revive Matu were never going to be successful.”

Matu, a Masai giraffe, was born at the zoo on Feb. 25, 2022. Masai giraffes are considered to be endangered.

The zoo shared that staff and volunteers gathered Friday morning for a smudging ceremony at the Giraffe Habitat led by the Indigenous Relations team.

“Amani, Mstari and Kiko, the three remaining giraffes are doing very well and do not appear to be impacted by his loss,” the Toronto Zoo said.