Giraffe cam with April, baby to end
HARPURSVILLE, NY (WFLA/AP) – April the giraffe suffered an injury at the Animal Adventure Park Monday morning, and viewers’ constant emails to the park has the team ready to pull the live feed down.
April has a small twist of her leg and has been favoring it when she walks.
The park’s veterinarian is aware of the issue, and the park said the injury is not unheard of in long-legged animals.
The park posted on Facebook that they appreciate the concern, but they are being bogged down with emails regarding April’s wellbeing.
“…but, the bogging down of email servers and other platforms is the exact reason the giraffe cam will need to be pulled,” the park posted.
The park did not say exactly when the feed would be pulled to YouTube.
The park is preparing to open for the season and said the emails are hindering their limited time.
The long-awaited arrival of April the giraffe’s baby has made Animal Adventure Park the second most live-viewed channel in YouTube’s history.
April’s livestream had more than 232 million live views and 7.6 billion minutes of live watch time since February, second only to League of Legends eSports, which has been around since 2012, YouTube said on Monday.
The channel had its biggest day on Saturday, with more than 14 million live views. More than 1.2 million viewers were watching the livestream simultaneously on YouTube when April gave birth Saturday morning, making it one of the Top 5 most-watched moments.
The not-yet-named male baby giraffe was running around with its mother within three hours of birth at the private zoo in Harpursville, a village 130 miles (210 kilometers) northwest of New York City.
Animal Adventure Park owner Jordan Patch said the baby was healthy and April was recovering “perfectly.”
April and the baby will be introduced to the public when the park opens for the season next month.
“We’re going to see that baby and mom really develop a beautiful bond,” Patch said.
The zoo is holding a contest to name the baby, charging $1 per vote, with proceeds being split among wild giraffe conservation efforts, zoo upgrades and support for families of children experiencing unexpected medical expenses.