14 DAY TRIAL // Only a few days back, a giraffe somehow managed to escape from an Italian circus that was camping in the city of Imola.
Although nobody can presently say for sure whether this incident was due to human negligence or not, the fact remains that both local authorities and some of the staff working with the Rinaldo Orfei Circus were left with virtually no choice than to chase the animal up and down the streets of said city.
To make matters even worse, the giraffe escaped during rush hour, so one can easily imagine that the people who became so-called urban hunters not because of choice, but due to the force of circumstance, had a particularly difficult task at hand when trying to catch the runaway animal.
Apparently, it took about four hours for the police and zoo staff to corner the giraffe in the parking lot of a grocery store and succeed in sedating it.
Given the fact that the animal weighed about 2,000 pounds (approximately 910 kilograms) and stood 16 feet (about 5 meters) tall, concerned locals decided to lend a helping hand and some of them saw fit to use a ladder in order to force the giraffe to enter a cage.
More precisely, they simply took the ladder and pushed it against the animal's neck, supposedly in order to get it to stand still.
Global Animal informs us that, soon after being returned to the Rinaldo Orfei Circus, the giraffe passed away as a result of heart failure.
Veterinarians and other people who know a thing or two about wildlife explain that the cardiac arrest the giraffe suffered following this chase was most likely due to the animal's experiencing acute stress.
No information has yet been made available with respect to how the giraffe's death will be dealt with by authorities, but we expect that an investigation will soon follow.
More so given the fact that those looking after wildlife in zoos and circuses have the responsibility to make sure no harm comes to the animals in their care and that the enclosures they are kept in are properly secured.