A giant anteater that called the Santa Barbara Zoo home for 13 years has died.
Zoo staff say they noticed the animal’s behavior changing and increased her medical care for several weeks, however, being unable to pinpoint exactly what was causing her health to deteriorate, the decision was made to humanely euthanize the Anara last week.
At the age of 6 months, she came to the zoo in December 2011 from the Fresno Zoo.
Anara shared a space with capybaras, which the zoo states is a “naturalistic representation of wild ecosystems since both animals are found in South America.”
During her time at the zoo, Anara gave birth to four pups. All of them went on to live at other AZA-accredited zoos, resulting in four grandpups and two great-grandpups.
The IUCN lists anteaters as a vulnerable species. “Anara’s contribution to the AZA’s Species Survival Plan program will benefit the population of giant anteaters in human care for generations to come,” the zoo stated, adding that their staff and the community will “deeply miss Anara.”mepage
