Giza Zoo sees theft of 5 falcons and death of a baby giraffe

Five falcons disappeared from Giza Zoo on Monday, making headlines in newspapers nationwide and raising questions about a potential illegal falcon trade. A baby giraffe named Aziz is also reported to have died in the zoo on Wednesday, as zookeepers and veterinarians struggled to keep him alive.

Police questioned zookeepers and staff about the conditions under which the falcons went missing. The state-owned Egyptian Television and Radio Union (ERTU) website reported cites zoo director Raafat Abdallah as saying that guards and personnel from Queen, a private security firm, were tasked with monitoring the birds and their enclosure.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper wrote on Wednesday that police were “intensifying their investigations,” after investigators noted that the birds’ enclosure showed evidence of cut wires. ERTU also reported that one of the locks was broken. Police investigators deemed the incident criminally motivated, and referred the case to prosecutors.

Abdallah added that Giza Zoo “will take legal and administrative action” against Queen, which may range from compensation to the termination of their contract.

He told ERTU that “a specialized technical committee is currently reviewing” the zoo’s security measures, including “securing the doors to all cages and enclosures so as to protect the rare species of animals and birds.”

According to zookeepers the Giza Zoo received the falcons nine months ago. The price of each bird, of the Shaheen subspecies, does not exceed LE 1,000. The zookeepers claimed that this rendered them “among the least valuable sort of bird in the zoo, in financial terms.”

Al-Ahram reported that veterinarians at Cairo International Airport’s animal quarantine holding area thwarted an “attempt to smuggle a large number of falcons out of the country” last month.

Security services have doubled their investigative efforts to identify the perpetrators, however it is not yet known if the birds of prey stolen on Monday night were destined for the foreign or domestic market.

Giza Zoo also saw the death of a baby male giraffe named Aziz on Wednesday.

Aziz had been making headlines for the past two weeks, as the first giraffe to be born in an Egyptian zoo in 20 years. However, he suffered from health complications over the past few days.

The privately owned Al-Watan newspaper cites Abdallah as saying that a special intensive care unit staffed by veterinarians was established within the giraffes’ enclosure on Tuesday. The zoo initially claimed that Aziz’s condition improved, and he was consuming 10 liters of milk per day.

The giraffe’s health had, however, deteriorated. Some local outlets reported that he died due to his poor health as his mother refused to breast feed him, while others outlets wrote that the baby giraffe he may have died of acute diarrhea.

Abdallah told Sada al-Balad that an autopsy would be conducted and clinical tests undertaken to identify the specific reasons behind the death of this giraffe that had captured so many hearts.

Three years earlier, another baby giraffe died in Giza Zoo, in an act reported to be a suicide.