New giraffe arrives early

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 7

New giraffe arrives early

Crossing the Tasman by ship can make even the steadiest stomach churn, and when you are an extremely tall, one-year-old landlubber like Mandy, it is easy to leave your sea-legs at home. The female Rothschild giraffe left Melbourne Zoo last Thursday, bound for Orana Park as part of a breeding exchange. She was expected to stop-over in the North Island today, but surprised staff at Orana by arriving at Wellington ahead of schedule yesterday afternoon. The promotions officer for the park, Ms Bev Shepherd, said Mandy would now spend an extra night in Wellington, and arrive in Lyttelton tomorrow aboard the Spirit of Free Competition. “It is not normal to ship a giraffe across the Tas-

man, but we are doing it because we have a very rare blood line here. She travelled well although it was a bit of a rough trip and she was a bit sea-sick. She is eating again now.” Mandy is being accompanied on her journey by the director of Orana Park, Mr Paul Garland, who suffered his own bout of sea-sickness in sympathy with the young giraffe.

The new female is being sent to Orana as the giraffe bloodline at the park is unrelated to any other in the Australian region. Eventually her offspring will go back to Australia, introducing a new bloodline into the species there. Mandy will join three other giraffes at Orana, a breeding pair and their daughter.