The giraffe at Riga Zoo Vakilia is five years old! He will be greeted in an unusual way

This Friday, August 9, we will be celebrating Vakilia the giraffe’s fifth birthday together at Riga Zoo. at At 13.00 everyone is welcome to the Giraffe House, where the festive event will take place. The end of the holiday is expected around the usual feeding time for the giraffes at 1:30 p.m., when the birthday girl receives gifts – a wreath of willow branches arranged in the shape of five and delicious giraffe flavored cake. specially prepared for this special day.

Shout out to the birthday lunch giraffe!

Everyone can congratulate Vakilia the giraffe on her birthday and give her a festive meal. Every day, the long-necked animal receives a strengthening portion of food, which costs 25 euros. It consists of two distinct types of particles. Vakilia also gets garlic and some carrot as a supplement for better food. Therefore, by donating 25 euros to the Riga Zoo to buy a daily ration of bullets for an animal with the “Giraffe Vakiliai” mark, everyone can call a birthday lunch for our giraffes . We publish the names of donors with the date on the Zoo’s homepage (https://rigazoo.lv/atbalsti-zirafes/), where you will also find all the conditions of the donation, in addition, the name of the Donation of the Day is recorded on a special center in the Giraffe headquarters.

While we are watching Wakilia, our other giraffe Chuck is also preparing for his birthday, which will mark his third birthday on September 19. So, let’s give our giraffes one great holiday – from Vakilia to Chuck!

The basic food of the giraffes of the Riga ZOO is leafy willow branches, which we offer to the animals in large quantities, as much as they want. In addition, the daily portion also includes protein-rich alfalfa hay, which is dried under special conditions. Granular food specially prepared for giraffes helps to balance the energy and nutrient requirements. When this balance is disturbed, the animals start having digestive problems, so we ask visitors not to feed the zoo residents themselves, but the work leave this to our staff. Alternatively, until September 30, you can watch public feeding demonstrations of different animals every day (program here: https://rigazoo.lv/vero-dzivnieku-barosanu/ ) and invite a birthday lunch for a giraffe!

There are 9 subspecies of giraffes in Africa. Rothschild’s giraffes, whose origins can be traced back to Uganda and Kenya, can be seen in the Riga Zoo. Both poaching and human economic activity are constantly reducing the number of giraffes in the country, and this species was included in the Red Book of the World in 1996 and was recognized as vulnerable to threats (VU-Vulnerable) in 2016. There are less than 1,500 representatives of the Rothschild giraffe subspecies left in Africa. To coordinate and monitor the keeping and breeding of giraffes in captivity, a European breeding program for this endangered species was established in 1990, within the framework of Vakilia and then in 2023 as well the young male Chaka was given to Riga ZOO. You can read more about Rothschild giraffes here: https://rigazoo.lv/dzivnieki/rotsilda-zirafe/

Giraffe Vakilia arrived in Riga on July 22, 2021 from Schmiding Zoo in Austria with the support of SIA “Latvijas Mobilais Telefons”, but Chuck left on June 7, 2023 from Ree Park in Denmark. “XS toys” have become platinum parents for giraffes.

The information was prepared by Elīza Lindane, Public Relations Specialist.