Jackson Jambalaya

I am going to stick my neck out here, but Chowke seems to have more sympathy for a deceased giraffe than he does for the Jacksonians who have gone without water and have boo boo running down their street.

Giraffes in captivity should live to 20 years or older. Mayor Incompetency's rush to comment betrays his feigned sincerity.

This species of giraffe usually lives 25 years. Seven years is too young. I don’t understand why we are keeping the zoo open. The facilities are horrible. Close the zoo.

Chokwe: How about penning this: "Down here at city hall, our hearts, prayers and sympathy go out to those of you who for years have tolerated so many boil-water notices, boo boo in your bathtubs and turds in your down-stream fishing holes, and, having said that, we are committed to doing better..."

Waiting in anticipation for that autopsy report to be made public.

Didn't even hit life expectancy of a giraffe out in the wild.

I like to blame everything on Chokwe and Jackson too, but sometimes animals just get sick and die. The "average life expectancy" is an average because some animals live longer than the average, and some don't live as long.

I'm glad they are looking into why, but I doubt they will find evidence tying this to anything other than a genetic issue, a weak heart, etc. Zookeepers don't become zookeepers for the glory or the top-dollar pay, so the insinuation that he died due to poor care is pretty far-fetched. Realistically, if any zoo lacks funds, they will cut programs, reduce maintenance expense, reduce their hours of operation, cut keeper salaries, and a million other things before they will cut animal care.

I knew it wouldnt be long. Many more to come since it takes $$ and responsible people. The zoo is run much like the water plants. Great job COJ. THe best thng they could do is just round all those animals up and shoot them. Why prolong their suffering? I'm sure the mayor will blame it on YT somehow.

I got 10-1 it didnt have any water to drink......

SHUT DOWN THE ZOO. Why are we wasting money keeping it open only to torture those poor animals?

Dave is a damn good zookeeper.

Dave and the rest of the staff may be great, but they are given inadequate resources for these animals. The animals deserve better! Close the Zoo!

...so the insinuation that he died due to poor care is pretty far-fetched.

Show us in the five comments above your own where the insinuation was made. Be specific. Put up.

@ 8:16 am

He may very well be. But, does he have the resources he needs, to show that he's a damn good zookeeper?

And you know that how, 8:16?

Would this giraffe still be alive if it weren't for the Mayor's stubbornness on keeping this "zoo" open? This is just ridiculous.

The only pencil-neck in the entire COJ worth a shit. And now he’s dead.

This is incredibly sad, and I am certain the employees are heart broken. I highly doubt they are making much money and have likely faced insurmountable challenges given Choke's inability to manage a single thing.

But it seems far past time to transfer these animals to a better facility. The chances of Jxn having ANY surplus to spend on things that are not basic necessities is zero. So this attraction will never improve.

The inability to make hard, even unpopular choices has been Jackson's undoing already.

And its so silly. Chuck could live stream himself shooting puppies and he would still win in a landslide. He has nothing to lose, yet still cant be bothered to make hard budget decisions.

Another reason for Antar to be in jail. All giraffes go to Heaven.

Send those sweet animals somewhere else please!

As 7:17 said, sometimes, animals die. It’s like y’all have never been outside before.

It’s an unfortunate death of a giraffe, not a political issue. I feel sorry for your family members who have to put up with you.

Isn't this the same zoo where dogs ate up some of their animals. If I remember right it happened more than once. It doesn't take much to build a fence that will keep dogs out.

Hopefully, something good can come of this. Like, rekindling the concept of moving the zoo to Lefleur's State Park.

The necropsy should be well finished by now. Will it ever be made public?

I understand giraffes do not die often but...

I find it sad that it takes months and months for the state to conduct autopsies, but we will know by the end of the day what killed this giraffe.

Any surviving animals at the Jackson Zoo should be transferred to the Hattiesburg Zoo, a first-class facility run by knowledgeable people with the full financial support of the city.

Free the zoo, right?

This is good opportunity to encourage those who haven’t gotten the booster shot yet.

I remember years ago, the golden eagle mascot died at Mississippi Southern. They did an autopsy and found that it had starved to death. The student responsible for feeding the bird had graduated and left campus. Nobody was assigned to feed the poor bird.

Dave is not a zookeeper. He has been upper management at the zoo for around 25 years. He is currently interim zoo director. He does zookeeper duties now because it's the Jackson Zoo. Questioning animal care here is needed. Look up what happened to the poor red river hogs. How many times have stray dogs got in the zoo and killed some of the collection? Knox is not the only animal living a solitary existence at the zoo. So is the rhino. The sable antelope. two colobus monkeys in two separate exhibits. Klipspringer. The bear. I can go on and on. The zoo has Dave and a Publuc Relations person yet all we see or hear from is the mayor Ison, the park and rec director. These animals and this zoo need help!

Do you really think they will post the necropsy results? Right.....

The giraffe either died from nobody feeding it, or got hit by a stray Jackson, Ms. bullet.

2717, the infamous Jackson Zoo has already cut all of those things you mention as possibilities, plus more. I don't believe that the few folks that still work there don't care about the animals - in fact I'm sure they care a lot. But there is only so much one can do when not provided with even the minimum amount of funding required to do the basics; just as was the case with the understaffed people at the water treatment plants who couldn't get approval to get the main water pumps repaired when they failed, and couldn't get (until literally the last minute) money to get chemicals delilvered to Fewell in order to keep it operating. In both cases, and others, they were told to 'wait until the start of the new fiscal year' and then they could take care of those 'minor details'. Probably the same case with problems at the zoo.

PETA should rain down their wrath on Jackson especially Choke-a-lot due to his intentional disregard for the lives of these helpless animals

Months and months of drinking Jackson's water. Poor sucker never had a chance.

Wait - there is a zoo?

Zoo's website has been down now for awhile now. How can people purchase tickets and order and just obtain information. The zoo's Facebook page has no mention of Knox's death and has posted every day since his death including today. Zoo saying they going to be looking for another giraffe to fill the exhibit. Shouldn't the statement be until we secure funds to build a new exhibit for giraffes we will no longer exhibit them due to the poor conditions of the aging and outdated exhibit. Where is management? These are just three examples. This just shows you even more how the zoo is being ran. And you wonder why the zoo is in the shape it is.

It has been nine months since the giraffe passed away at the young age of 8. Where’s the promised necropsy report? The day they announced his death they were quick to say it was bladder stones. Speaking of follow up reports. It has been over a month since the zookeeper was attacked by the “monkey”. Officials said once they got the report from the keeper they would release details. Where is it? Remember this happened shortly after a bear escaped in the back service area. Wonder why people don’t support the zoo. The zoo needs new management. That’s obvious to everybody but the city officials! Once again where is the great press in Jackson who never seem to follow up on a lot of stories. Sad all the way around.