A baby giraffe strayed away from his parents and herd at the Denver Zoo over the weekend, landing in a moat from which a surprised zookeeper had to spring the long-legged animal.
Turbo, who was born in October and already stands over 6 feet tall, was not injured in the incident.
“If anything, he was probably just getting a lot of sun exploring the moat,” said Tiffany Barnhart, a zoo spokeswoman.
Turbo sneaked off from the the herd about 3:45 p.m. Sunday as he was being led back to the giraffe house to be fed and sheltered for the night.
“Usually the whole herd is eager to get inside and have dinner,” Barnhart said.
But young Turbo lived up to his name.
“He is a very charismatic, outgoing guy,” Barnhart said. “He likes to frolic.”
Turbo likely fell into the moat, which is a grassy, sunken barrier separating the giraffes from the public.
Beyond the moat is a wall and at no time did Turbo come close to being loose on the zoo grounds, Barnhart said.
As soon as the zookeeper noticed Turbo was missing, she went back into the pen, opened the gate at the moat area and walked Turbo back to the house, Barnhart said.
The whole episode took about three minutes, but some curious zoo patrons who spotted Turbo in the moat were worried about the little guy.
“We did have a very busy day on Sunday,” Barnhart said. “A lot of people saw what happened and many asked security ‘Is he OK?’ ”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
