Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/goat_incident/
Goat hangs self in Canadian zoo
Authorities claim tragedy an 'accident'
Posted in Bootnotes, 21st January 2009 14:00 GMT
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Calgary Zoo is one exotic goat short of an Arkful after a Turkmenian markhor "accidentally hanged itself" over the weekend.
According to Reuters, local television carried a shock report into the incident, featuring amateur video showing the caprine corpse "hanging lifeless from a rope in its enclosure".
The zoo claims (pdf) [1] the victim "became entangled in an enrichment toy that had been in the exhibit for several years", specfically a "a ball on the end of a rope", as Reuters puts it. While the video footage did show keepers "trying to resuscitate the animal", the zoo has rather suspiciously still not explained (pdf) [2] the mysterious death of 41 stingrays in May last year.
Accordingly, readers are invited to suggest a possible link between the two. Since I've personally not been to Calgary, I'm hesitant to suggest suicide in either case. ®