Melbourne Zoo Monifa the Pygmy Hippo died

F

FriendOfTheZoo

Well-Known Member
Just saw this on Zoos Victoria FB page

Very sadly, Monifa, the Pygmy Hippopotamus at Melbourne Zoo died this morning.
She had become ill very suddenly and keeping staff and the vet team stayed with her throughout the night.
Through diagnostic testing, keeping staff and the vet team yesterday found that the cause of her sudden illness was an acute haemolytic crisis – which occurs from the rapid destruction of large numbers of red blood cells.
Both teams spent considerable time with Monifa treating her and monitoring her condition. Unfortunately she had a very grave prognosis for surviving this condition.
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Sad news :(

Now Kambiri is the only surviving offspring of Timmy x Petra, and may be their last calf, that is, if they are post-reproductive now (which I seem to remember reading somewhere on these forums)
 
Terrible, terrible news. Melbourne has lost a wonderful little hippo, and no doubt Taronga is mourning as well. Not at Melbourne for long, but a real pleasure for the time that she was.

Such a loss, too, for a program that is now well and truly on the 'critical' list. Especially if the illness in question is genetic.

Vale Monifa.
 
Yes, sad news. And we are once again at the point to talk about the import-export-regulations in OZ, aren't we?
 
So, so sad at the loss of this beautiful girl.
Thoughts are with the keepers of Melbourne and Sydney.
I'll really miss her sweet little face.
 
Well that is essentially the end of pygmys in the region. Very sad for both Melbourne and Taronga.
 
What a rotten thing to happen!
That's the most depressing (zoo) news I've heard since Taronga lost the female Indian rhino a couple of years ago. Two steps forward; one step back.

...and so, the impoverishment of Australian zoos continues.....
 
this, like the death of the bongo at TWPZ underscores the danger of acting too slowly in this region to cooperate and consolidate potential breeding groups of animals in order to boost animal numbers.
with numbers as low as they are, the loss of every individual is an incredible blow to the program. Monifa's death does sound a lot like rodent transmitted EMC, which can never be truly eliminated. Had the pairing of Adelaide and Melbournes hippo happened ten years ago, we would probably be still mourning the death of this calf but not be biting our nails nervously as there may have been a few more calves produced. Please get Kembiri and the Cairns offspring together and breeding as quick as is biologically possible. and let the lesson be learned.
 
Oh that is so sad! I just saw photos of her in the Zoo Born book and thought she was absolutely precious. What a loss. :-(
 
Hey, glyn! Where you been, boy? Glad you're still around.

As always, what you say is spot on. It should be a major priority of zoos in this country to boost the number of species like bongos and pygmy hippos. They should also explore ways to import new genetic material (difficult, I know.)

The situation, though, is getting critical.
 
I feel sorry for you lads and lassies .... I am keeping fingers crossed that this latest sad death of a critical species in Australia will finally bring into motion a much needed infusion of new genes into the Australian population. Both pygmy hippo and the also mentioned bongo can be acquired in some numbers from overseas .... with some ease (if only B.S. puts out a helping hand to ZAA zoos ...).
 
Only heard about this recently. Heartbroken. Hope little Monifa enjoyed the best 2 years on this Earth.
 
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