ROCHESTER, N.Y. — It’s a sad day for the Seneca Park Zoo. Kipenzi, its female giraffe, died.

It’s been almost a year since Kipenzi the seven-year-old giraffe from the Seneca Park Zoo has been diagnosed with cancer. On Monday the zoo had to put her down after she wasn’t able to fight it anymore.

The zoo veterinarian says it was a difficult decision, but Kipenzi could no longer eat. Sam Faczan, a volunteer at the zoo, expressed his disappointment.

“She’s been here like ever since like the exhibit opened up and to like to see her pass away from this incident is very disappointing and sad,” Faczan said.

Kipenzi came to the zoo six years ago. In August 2023 doctors discovered an inoperable tumor in her jaw.

“The only way we could get rid of it was to remove her lower jaw and that’s not right so what they did is they found a cream that they would apply to her lower jaw that would sort of stop the growth of the tumor because eventually if it got too big she would be unable to eat,” volunteer Delilah MacDonald explained.

The cream worked for a while, allowing Kipenzi to live as normal a life as possible until a few days ago. Zoo veterinarian Chris McKinney says she recently stopped eating and her weight dropped 75 pounds in a very short time. They could tell she wasn’t comfortable and decided it was time to euthanize her.

Ann Lill, a visitor who happens to be a veterinarian said, “I was fortunate enough to come to visit while she was in her spot and she was being well cared for. And their goal was to keep her going and I feel like they controlled her pain. And so you know with cancer, there’s not a lot, you can’t save them all so they did a great job.”

Kipenzi met almost two million people in her six years at the zoo. A quick look at the post the zoo made about her death shows the love the community felt for her.

Seneca Park Zoo says Kipenzi lived longer than expected. Most animals who get this kind of cancer are expected to live for 10 to 12 months. Kipenzi lived for 16.

Kipenzi’s mate, Parker, died in February 2023 after getting his neck stuck in a gate. In February 2024 their son, Parker Jr., also died from an apparent seizure.

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