KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Zoo announced Friday that, for the second time this week, a beloved animal has died.
Hamisi, one of the zoo's adult giraffes, died Wednesday morning due to a tragic accident, according to the zoo's Facebook page.
The giraffe sustained an acute spinal cord injury while in his behind-the-scenes bedroom.
Zoo veterinarians performed a necropsy and determined Hamisi likely died instantly.
"The entire zoo is heartbroken and grieving this loss," a spokesperson for the zoo said.
The Kansas City Zoo said it plans to conduct an internal review of the giraffe habitat, which was built in 1995.
"We will make immediate modifications to the area as needed, and also share any findings with other AZA-accredited facilities in hopes of preventing any future incidents," the Facebook post said.
Hamisi moved to Kansas City in 2016 from Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Last year, he fathered two calves, Dixie and Maxwell.
The Kansas City Zoo also chose to euthanize 31-year-old polar bear Bam Bam Wednesday. Bam Bam’s liver was failing, and she had developed untreatable liver cancer.
