April, The Giraffe Who Became An Internet Sensation As The World Watched Her Give Birth, Is Euthanised In New York Zoo After Suffering From Arthritis

A giraffe called April that became worldwide famous after her pregnancy and delivery were livestreamed to the world in 2017, has sadly died. The New York zoo in which she was living said she was put to sleep due to advanced arthritis.

The giraffe, who was 20 years old, had shown signs of arthritis over the last few years, and the condition had advanced as time passed. The disease had resulted in her being unable to walk properly and be in constant pain and discomfort.

The zoo said it had done everything it could over the last few years to make April's situation better, including strong painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication and had even made her enclosure more mobility friendly. Eventually, she was lying down almost all day because it was too painful to walk.

Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch said of April:

"She is a precious member of our family, and while we knew this day would eventually come, our hearts are hurting. The severity of her condition has been outpacing our ability to control April's comfort."

Giraffes tend to live between 20 and 30 years in captivity and slightly less in the wild.

April had four calves in total, meaning her legacy will live on. In 2017, the zoo in New York began live streaming from April's enclosure soon after she became pregnant. The birth of her fourth and final calf was also live streamed. The stream was watched over 230 million times and 2.3 million saw the baby giraffe being born. It is the most-watched live stream on YouTube of all time.

The live stream helped publicise April and the plight of giraffes around the world. Fundraising surrounding the live stream pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars and money was also raised through sponsorship of the stream by toy retailer 'Toys R' Us'.

The money raised will go towards helping giraffes in captivity via breeding programs and help raise awareness of the pressure wild giraffes are facing.

There are currently believed to be around 68,000 giraffes living wild in Africa, but this number has declined by more than 40% in the last 30 years due to poaching and habitat destruction.

[h/t: Daily Mail]