All things — including an addictive live stream that kept countless spectators engrossed in a giraffe’s pregnancy — must end.
Keepers at Animal Adventure Park in Upstate New York said late Monday that the live cam that captured April the giraffe bringing her calf into the world over the weekend will be taken down later this week.
Although the park said that it had always been the plan to remove the live stream after the birth, the announcement came amid news that the mother giraffe had twisted her leg — which, keepers said, “is not unheard of in such long legged animals.”
The response from April’s fans put a strain on the park.
“We appreciate concern but the bogging down of email servers and other platforms is the exact reason the giraffe cam will need be pulled,” the park said Monday in a statement. “While we appreciate the concern, it is interfering with normal park operations and preparation for opening; at a period when our resource of time is limited and cannot be hindered. Please allow our team to do as they are trained to do — we have their care covered!”
But by Tuesday morning, park officials said April’s walk and stance were nearly back to normal.
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“Her leg twist was the equivalent of rolling your ankle slightly — ‘walk it off,'” they said in a statement. “Creating news stories out of such a minor thing is a bit of a stretch … but she is a celebrity so headlines sell.”
But some viewers still seemed distraught upon discovering that the Animal Adventure Park would be removing the live stream. “Wow, couldn’t you just change your email address???” one person wrote on the park’s Facebook page.
Share this articleShareThe park replied: “We could change it 100 times; it doesn’t curb the issue.”
“The cam will come down between Wed and Friday of this week as planned from the beginning,” officials explained in the comments section. “This decision was made to allow us to focus on the park and our opening.”
This story has been updated.
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