Amazon World Zoo Park has said a sad goodbye to Ernst the Giant Anteater, who has died after more than 16 years at the park.
Ernst was born at Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, Germany on the 15th October 2004 and moved to Amazon World Zoo Park in July the following year.
During his 16 years at the zoo, Ernst fathered 2 offspring with his previous partner Kliene.
The popular Giant Anteater had been under specialist veterinary care for some time and had struggled over the last few months with deteriorating arthritis. Medications had been helping him, however as his condition worsened the medications became less effective and this affected his mobility and ability to properly move around his enclosure.
His condition deteriorated rapidly over the last 3 weeks and sadly, despite the best efforts of his dedicated keepers and vets, there was no more that could be done to help him. Ernst could no longer live the quality of life he deserved and therefore the very difficult decision was made on Thursday morning to say goodbye.
A spokesperson for Amazon World has said:
“Ernst captured the hearts of everyone that had the pleasure of working with him, he could be stroppy at times but that only made his keepers love him even more. Ernst loved nothing more than cooling off with a cold shower in the hot days of summer and we will never forget his love for avocado and bio yoghurt and the fact he used his nose to smear his food all over the walls of his house, the keepers never minded though, as long as he was enjoying himself!”
Zoo owners Derek and Sandra were with Ernst on Thursday morning as he drifted away.
A sad loss, and with the amount of ants everywhere in my garden, could have fed the guy for decades.
I hope his arthritic condition was not because he lived in a cold, damp, climate compared to his natural homeland.
Born in a zoo and spent his whole life in a zoo. It makes me feel quite sad.