The well-known hippopotamus Raff from Valencia has died at the age of 40 in Bioparc, after living for 25 years in the old Viveros zoo and being transferred to the nature park where he has resided for the last 15 years.
His incurable health problems and his advanced age for his species have meant that the technical team has had to euthanize him. The specialists detected a kidney condition, added to the serious, painful and irreversible problems in the joints of the legs.
For all the staff it is a sad loss and the only thing left is the satisfaction of having offered him the best care, as well as maintaining the same commitment to his partner Rigas and his son Gori, the nature park expresses in a statement.
Specifically, an exhaustive veterinary examination has been carried out on the hippopotamus, after several years with procedures and medication due to the obvious disorders in its legs and the difficulty in its movements and displacements that caused it intense pain.
In order to carry out several interventions, the animal was anesthetized, which allowed all the necessary tests and examinations to be carried out by Bioparc professionals together with veterinary specialists from the Basel Zoo (Switzerland) and the Universities of Vienna ( Austria) and the CEU Cardenal Herrera of Valencia.
The tests and x-rays were resounding and confirmed the diagnosis of irreversible osteoarthritis with no possibility of treatment, as well as a kidney condition, so the priority was to avoid useless suffering for any longer.
From the park they want to share this great loss with all the people who for so many years have shown their love and admiration for Raff. Now, in the Kitum cave, where the great African lakes and wetlands are recreated, you can see the female Rigas and Gori, the last of Raff's more than ten children.
Bioparc participates in the international program for the conservation of the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a species classified as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. Raff's offspring continue this work in several European animal parks.
