MOUNT ULLA — The giraffe whose overgrown hooves prompted accusations of animal cruelty is now walking around Lazy 5 Ranch on trimmed hooves.
Lazy 5 owner Henry Hampton said today that a team of people trimmed the giraffe’s hooves Tuesday without a hitch.
“It took us maybe 12 to 13 minutes for the whole procedure, all four feet,” Hampton said today.
The team included three veterinarians, four people in the business of trimming cows’ hooves and several members of the Lazy 5 staff.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a private warrant last month accusing Hampton of cruelty for allowing the young giraffe with what PETA called “severely overgrown hooves” to remain in that condition for months. PETA said the animal was in pain.
Hampton, who said the animal was not in pain, had said he preferred to allow giraffes’ hooves to wear down gradually as they walked on rocks. Anesthetizing and laying down a giraffe to have its hooves trimmed was too risky, he said.
To avoid that, Hampton had a padded, 19-foot-tall chute made in which the giraffe could stand while its hooves were trimmed, and it was used successfully on Tuesday.
“It was almost spooky how smooth and quiet it went,” Hampton said.
Look for more on this story in Friday’s Post.