A zebra that died in a zoo in Essex was killed after a rhinoceros unintentionally impaled the animal, the attraction has said.
Colchester Zoo shared an update after initially posting on social media about an “extremely rare” incident on 10 January in its mixed species African habitat between the rhino and a male zebra.
The Essex-based attraction named the zebra in question, Ziggy, in a statement online, as they explained he had “lived happily with the other species, including the rhino” in the enclosure since he arrived in November 2017.
On Friday, two of the rhinos, Astrid and her son Tayo, were sparring with one another in the habitat, which the zoo described as a “regular and natural behaviour for this species.”
While sparring, the female rhino attempted to move the zebra out of the way and “unintentionally punctured his stomach”.
The animal died of its injuries a few minutes later.
Responding to the incident, Colchester Zoo announced they were reviewing their “care for the animals to minimise the risk of these incidents reoccurring.”
“As a result, the Animal Care Team will continue to closely monitor the animals behaviour in the coming weeks.”
The statement continued: “these sorts of incidents are extremely rare and we are devastated by this loss, Ziggy was a much loved animal who will be dearly missed.
“We would really like to thank our supporters for the well wishes at this difficult time and thank our fantastic Animal Care Team who dealt with this very difficult situation extremely professionally.”
After announcing the incident on Facebook, the zoo made it clear they were directing their resources to make sure the rest of the animals were settled in the habitat.
Colchester Zoo has been open since 1963 and first welcomed rhinos in 1972. It opened its Kingdom of the Wild mixed species habitat in 2001.
