Halls Gap Zoo has welcomed the arrival of its newest addition, with 22-month-old giraffe Zawadi arriving on Wednesday night.
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The three-metre-tall giraffe bull made the long trip from Altina Wildlife Park to Halls Gap at about 10am on Wednesday morning, arriving at his new home shortly after 6pm.
Halls Gap Zoo owners Greg and Yvonne Culell made the more than 500 kilometre journey with Zawadi, enduring some difficult conditions along the way.
“We had a nice tailwind for the first part then hit a huge dust storm and then had big crosswinds with heavy rain which slowed us down a bit,” Mr Culell said.
“He traveled extraordinarily well though. He was fantastic the whole trip, hardly moved.
“By nature he is a very cool, easy going and relaxed animal.”
Zawadi looked right at home when exiting his crate at the zoo, working his way around the giraffe enclosure and quickly coming to meet the two other giraffes he will be living with.
He even took time to sniff out some emus loitering at the fence of his enclosure.
“He settled in exactly as I expected, with no issues whatsoever,” Mr Culell said.
“He got right into it straight away which was great to see.”
Halls Gap Zoo general manager Carlee Vokes said Zawadi will be on display for the public to come and view straight away.
“We will let him settle in and develop a relationship with the keepers but he will be there for all the locals to come along and say hello to this weekend,” she said.
“It is incredibly exciting to welcome another member into our big zoo family.”
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