Jazz, the young Giraffe who arrived at the Rhino Orphanage after his mom abandoned him, is bonding even more with Hunter, an anti-poaching dog.
Location withheld for safety reasons – The Rhino Orphanage recently received a call from a nearby landowner who had found a very weak giraffe calf in need of medical care. Staff rushed to the site and found the giraffe calf, thought to be around 2 to 3 days old, barely awake, dehydrated and very weak.
They quickly took the giraffe back to their facilities and started him on a drip to help rehydrate him. The poor little orphan had slipped into a coma but was responding well to the treatment. The orphanage’s anti-poaching dog Hunter spent every waking moment by the giraffe’s side to offer comfort.
The giraffe finally woke and started making a good recovery. They named him Jazz and hoped he would adapt well to life at the orphanage. They were worried as giraffes are known to be hard work.
“Baby giraffes are notorious for being labour intensive and difficult to get on a bottle. And Jazz has proved no different. Their height (about 1.8m) also doesn’t make it any easier. But we have a few tricks up our sleeves that will hopefully pay off.”
Jazz has thrived, recovering well from the initial shock of being abandoned. He has figured out how the bottle works and is already growing fast. The volunteers working with him are having to stand on their tippy-toes to feed him, commenting that soon they will need to bring the ladder out.
He has also slowly started moving to solids, learning to feed on Acacia leaves. They are those thorny trees and giraffes use their tounges to skillfully remove the leaves from around the thorny branches.
Take a look below at some of the videos from the last week. Jazz is getting cuter by the moment.
Update: Sadly, since posting this, we have been informed of Jazz’s passing. Jazz will forever be remembered as the little Giraffe that stole our hearts! We wish the team at the Rhino Orphanage our sincerest condolences and send our love to Hunter who lost a dear friend today!
This video of Jazz licking Hunter is the cutest thing ever!
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