9 GIRAFFES DIE AFTER TRUCK OVERTURNS.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Nine giraffes being exported to China were killed Wednesday when a truck taking them to quarantine quarantine (kwŏr`əntēn), isolation of persons, animals, places, and effects that carry or are suspected of harboring communicable disease. overturned. The animals' owner, Thys Maritz, lost control of the truck while swerving to avoid a passing taxi, police said. ``Most of the giraffes broke their necks,'' police spokesman Capt. Morne van Wyk said. Two of the animals died instantly, and seven badly injured giraffes had to be shot by professional hunters. A 10th giraffe giraffe, African ruminant mammal, Giraffa camelopardalis, living in open savanna S of the Sahara. The tallest of animals, giraffes browse in treetops at heights inaccessible to other leaf-eaters. A male may be 18 ft (5.5 m) from hoof to crown. survived. It was sedated before being taken back to Maritz's farm to recuperate re·cu·per·ate v. To return to health or strength; recover. . Van Wyk said Maritz had been taking the giraffes to a veterinary hospital in Skeepoort, near Pretoria, for quarantine before being exported to China. Wyk didn't know what was to be done with the animals in China. |
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