The tower is growing! Meet Obi, our special baby boy giraffe!
Global Wildlife Center is standing proud and tall this week as we introduce yet another beautiful baby to our visitors! Proud parents Jett and Kya welcomed a baby boy in the early hours of August 17th. “Obi” a name which means “Heart” in Swahili, has been bonding with his mother inside the giraffe barn and enclosure for the past three months. He has grown like a weed and has been cleared to join the rest of the herd on safari (also known as a ‘tower’ of giraffes), much to the delight of baby Frannie.
You may wonder why Obi has been staying inside with mom for so long. (Usually after about two weeks, mother and offspring are transitioned to the field.) Well, it was evident very quickly after his birth that Obi was “different.” He displayed neurological abnormalities that were concerning enough to warrant a trip to LSU’s Large Animal Teaching Hospital for intensive care and monitoring. After a brief stint in the ICU, Obi was brought back home to Global Wildlife and reunited successfully with his mother. Unfortunately, Obi’s challenges were not over. He sustained a wound and infection in his right eye which further delayed his progress. As you can imagine, treating a giraffe’s eye is no easy task. Especially when they are not eager to have medications put into an injured eye multiple times a day! Our veterinarian and Director of Animal Programs, Dr. Kanyon, recommended the placement of a special lens that would cover the wound and serve as a therapy for this challenging injury. It may be the first time this therapy has been used in a giraffe!
With the help of Dr. Van Brunt, DACVO, and his team from Southern Veterinary Eye Care in Mandeville, Dr. Kanyon and our animal care team immobilized Obi for his treatment. We are thrilled to announce it worked! After nearly six weeks of healing, Obi was given a clean bill of ocular health and permitted to be united with the rest of the tower.
We are so excited to say we were able to save Obi’s eye. He has a residual scar in the right eye which might be a small visual hindrance, but he is able to see out of the eye and navigate his environment. When you come out to visit Obi, you might also notice that he still has a reminder of the challenges faced early in his life. He has what our veterinarian calls a “right sided head tilt.” There are many reasons why this could happen, but with none of them being readily “fixable,” we have elected to allow Obi to just be Obi and to celebrate our very special and joyful boy!
Please come visit Obi, his very protective mom Kya, his dad Jett, and all our other beautiful giraffes here at Global. Obi can’t wait to meet you!
