PESHAWAR: Another three-year-old giraffe was found dead at the Peshawar Zoo on Saturday in mysterious circumstances. This was the third death of the African animal occurred in the zoo during the last one month.

Earlier, a giraffe had died on April 17 while a zebra also died in the facility. An official of the zoo told Dawn that a viral disease apparently caused death of the giraffe. He said the animal looked lazy when caretakers fed four giraffes in their enclosure.

He said immediate treatment was provided to the animal but she could not survive. He said postpartum report would determine exact cause of the death, adding earlier a giraffe had died due to excessive saliva and diarrhoea.

The official said that zoo’s caretakers did not have the required facilities to handle such a mammoth animal during treatment.

The zoo’s veterinary officer Abdul Qadir said anti-viral disinfectant was being sprayed in the animals’ enclosures and immunity boosters were also included in their feed. He said the animal was not responding when it was being fed along with three other giraffes.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2020