Denver happily munched carrots Tuesday morning during Reid Park Zoo’s daily Giraffe Encounter event, for the first time since she was fed poisonous plants nine days earlier.
Though Denver’s condition has improved, zoo officials warn the giraffe has not yet fully recovered. Keepers continue to monitor her closely.
Giraffe Encounters allow zoo visitors to hand-feed the animals for a small fee and Denver will be out as long as she’s feeling up to it.
“She had a whole bunch of carrots,” said Vivian VanPeenen, the zoo's curator of education. “She looks brighter today. Moving around and more active.”
Although Denver is eating and drinking while roaming the exhibit, she did not eat overnight when she was put into her barn stall. Her kidney and bowel functions have yet to return to normal VanPeenen said.
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Denver, 20, and the zoo's lone male giraffe, 6-year-old Watoto, were fed toxic oleander cuttings July 18 by an apprentice zookeeper who has since resigned. The poisoning was discovered the next morning when the regular keeper found oleander remnants in the stalls. Emergency measures were taken, but later that day Watoto’s heart stopped. The zoo's two other giraffes, Elinor and Texas, were not fed the toxic plants.
