New Mexico zoo investigates dismembered giraffe

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— A beloved Rio Grande Zoo giraffe was dismembered and placed in a trash bin following its death, and an outraged mayor of Albuquerque has ordered an investigation into it.

"This is nothing short of outrageous and the mayor has expressed that very publicly. This is unacceptable behavior from a city employee," said mayoral spokesman Chris Ramirez.

Instead of following protocol and taking the giraffe to the landfill, a zoo worker put the dismembered giraffe carcass in a bin near the zoo

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 24-3-2010 by dolphinfan]

What was this gent thinking? It has to take a bit of effort to dismember a giraffe. Its not like cleaning a fish. Takes a bit of time as well.

How would you like to drive by the zoo with your kid and see a giraffe dismembered and sticking out of a trash bin? Nice

I find it disgusting that these animals are tossed in landfill. They deserve more dignity


(visit the link for the full news article)

Honestly since you asked, I would tell my gullible theoretical kid something smart ass like 'some assembly required' and tell them they come shipped that way like furniture from Ikea...

But seriously... who leaves a dismembered giraffe in the dumpster... not only is that unsanitary and will reek and gross out guests but that has to look bad on the whole zoo, zoos need all the revenues they can get and I imagine would discourage people from coming back...

I heard about the death of the giraffe on the evening news last night and the first thing that came to mind was, how do you dispose of a giraffe's carcass? Not that it is an uncommon problem for zoos to dispose of the carcasses of large animals.

As it turns out, there is a place in the city dump where these remains can be properly disposed of. Why some idiot maintenance staff member chose to use a dumpster I haven't heard, but as of tonight at 10pm, no one has yet been disciplined or put on leave as a result of the investigation.

I doubt that much will come of it, but we shall see.

[edit on 2010/3/24 by GradyPhilpott]

The poor thing how sad it is

Hope its spirit is living somewhere peacefully

reply to post by Ridhya


You're right, it's bad because they will lose money.

This is disgusting. How would they like it if their dead grandmother was cut up into pieces and dropped in the bin?

so whats the difference , both ways it ends up in the same land fill.

tip of the hat to the giraffe,

what sort of " bin " was it ???????

2000lb of girraffe standing 15 foot tall [ when alive ] is a lot of dismembered bits

reply to post by ShadowArcher


A giraffe is not a human. One dead animal in the trash like this will make absolutely no difference in anything, other than the zoo's revenue.

Since I live here... this is from our local news...

The 16-year-old giraffe was euthanized Thursday because of a debilitating leg injury. But instead of burying her in a landfill, which is the standard procedure, a zoo employee dumped her dismembered body in a garbage bin instead.

Betty Rivera is the director of cultural services and says that’s not the way carcasses are handled.

“It's dishonorable to the animal and it dishonors our city and our employees," said Rivera.

She says the zoo employee has been identified as John Cordova, who’s been with the zoo for ten years and normally does construction. He also uses large equipment to move the bodies of big animals.

Cordova was supposed to take Kashka to the landfill, but a trash collector later found her dismembered body in a garbage bin.

"This employee has done this before, taken an animal to the landfill, and this time he just short stepped it," said Rivera.

So not only was it disrespectful.... this guy new what he was supposed to do and didn't

Local Story Link

PS while this might be kind of bad I fail to see what its national news worthy?

[edit on 24-3-2010 by DaddyBare]

My best friend has dismembered a giraffe.(you don't get to say that very often)

Same exact circumstances. The giraffe suffered a leg injury, they put it under for an operation and it died.

Putting large animals under is a very risky business in itself, which is why they try to avoid it and it makes news. There is a high risk of the animal not coming out.

A giraffe is a very large heavy animal. If a zoo is not well funded, they can't afford the cranes and lifts necessary to move it or lift it.

IN this instance, the giraffe couldnt' be carried out of the building as is. Teh keepers had to spend three days dismembering it and carrying parts in trash cans to the graveyard.

I can assure you they don't care for the process, and many tears are shed in teh process. But understand that disposing of a such a large animal is monumental process.

So the injury here isn't in the dismemberment, but special arrangements should of been made to take it to the landfill.

In my friend's instance, they are fortunate enough to have a graveyard(rumors are there is even a whale there) but that takes real estate, that some zoos may not have. Their only option may be a landfill.

reply to post by nixie_nox


I can see them having to do that here...
the Zoo in Albuquerque is tiny but most standards...
the Giraffe pen while large compared to others we have. it's pretty darn small...
If you do a google map search enter "Rio Grande Zoo Albuquerque nm 87102" you'll see from the air how small it is...

in fact the only notable thing about or zoo is before it was a zoo it was a prisoner of war camp for WWII Germans back in the 1940's

[edit on 24-3-2010 by DaddyBare]

The city worker who leaked the photos to the media is under investigation.

A city worker said he's being targeted by officials for blowing the whistle on the dumping of a giraffe corpse.

Rocky Gutierrez is a union representative who is speaking on behalf of the solid waste worker who found the carcass of a city zoo giraffe last week in a trash bin.

The remains were supposed to be taken to the landfill, but a zoo worker discarded the giraffe in a trash bin at the zoo.

Upset over the circumstances, that worker leaked the story and pictures to the media.

www.koat.com...

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


Yeah I saw that on the news...
but you know they are doing an active investigation....
He should be talking to city investigators not reporters...
I don't see a problem with asking to keep his info to himself his going to the press could mess up any future charges of wrong doing if handled wrong

reply to post by ShadeWolf


Yeah, but really people would even give their pet rat the dignity of a burial... You have to think these zoo employees would have even some sort of attachment to these animals.

I mean, tossing a very expensive exotic animal in the trash (when I'm sure you could use the pelt at a museum or something) in my opinion is disgraceful.

Even if you don't agree with what I just said, I'm sure you would agree that there just has to be a better method of disposal.

[edit on 26-3-2010 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod


A dignified burial is probably asking too much, in my opinion. I've wrapped up a couple of my beloved pets and put them in the trash.

The least the zoo employees could have done was to follow policy and there would not have been this brouhaha.

[edit on 2010/3/26 by GradyPhilpott]

Why wouldn't these animals be cremated???

1.) FAR more sanitary
2.) Can't be too expensive to do...
3.) Much more dignified

reply to post by Gazrok


the problems with cremation are multiple :

1 - if you want a sanitary ` closed furnace ` it will either be huge - or you will still have to chop the anmal up into small peices

2 - if you go for ` open pyre ` - you still have a very large very smelly fire .

3 - however you cremate it - a girraffes leg bones are huge and would still require intensive mechanical pulverisation