20 kg of plastic found in dead giraffe’s stomach

ORIGINAL: Jakarta Post

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

03/02/2012

Kliwon dead giraffe in Surabaya zoo. Antara/M Risyal Hidayat

Up to 20 kilograms of plastic was found in the stomach of a giraffe named Kliwon, who died in his stall in the Surabaya Zoo on Thursday evening. 

“The plastic was apparently contained in the food he’d been eating for years and accumulated in his stomach,” Surabaya Zoo management team chief Tony Sumampaw said Friday. 

Tony said that according to the zoo medical team, the plastic had clogged Kliwon’s digestive system. 

The 21-year-old giraffe collapsed in his stall a day before his death. The giraffe keeper said that Kliwon had lost his appetite over the past few days. 

Tony said that the zoo could not afford to get another giraffe to replace Kliwon due to financial constraints. 

The 15-hectare zoo, which is one of the city’s tourism icons, houses 2,025 animals from 249 species. Many have said that the zoo is overpopulated. According to the zoo, 2,204 animals in the zoo died during the 2006–2011 period. (swd)