A baby giraffe called Yao Ming is dead in Texas after zookeepers at the Houston Zoo decided to euthanize the animal because it was facing intense pain from a bone infection.
Yao Ming's arthritic bone infection would have caused a lifetime of pain, zookeepers said. Euthanizing the baby giraffe was, the zookeepers felt, the most human option.
"In the long run, it was definitely the right decision. ... We don't want to see the animal suffer and go through chronic pain," said Dr. Wyatt Winchell, the veterinarian who had treated the giraffe, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The giraffe was barely two months old and had already undergone one surgery to remove infected bone from its right shoulder. The giraffe was also afflicted by an infection in its rear leg, which was reportedly healing.
"Up until the last week he seemed to be improving," said Winchell. "He had been lying down a little more, though."
Winchell said that the giraffe's primary infection likely set off a chain of events that lead to a spiraling decline in the animal's health.
Zoo Director Rick Barongi said the giraffe would be missed.
"Yao was truly an exceptional giraffe calf that touched the hearts of everyone that had the privilege of interacting with him," Barongi said.
Giraffe can live up to 25 years in the wild and longer in captivity, according to the Houston Zoo. The zoo has eight other giraffe in captivity; a live feed of its "Giraffe Barn" here.