TY SHIMOMURA / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
Squirt the giraffe was escorted yesterday by Maui police and a caravan of supporters on his way to a vessel bound for Oahu.
Squirt the giraffe
returning to Oahu
WAILUKU » Squirt the giraffe is going home to the Honolulu Zoo today.
Escorted by Maui police and a caravan of supporters, the 14-foot-6-inch animal descended the mountains of Haleakala on Maui yesterday afternoon and boarded a Young Brothers vessel.
Squirt is being sent back to his birth home as a result of the February closure of Zoo Maui in Kula.
Zoo Maui's executive director, Wanda Riggs, said Squirt was sent home with a rubber tether ball that he uses for his recreation and also a broom that he bites on as a pacifier. His head stuck about 6 feet above the shipping crate.
Squirt, whose mom and dad are at the Honolulu Zoo, came to the Valley Isle with a broom as a pacifier about four years ago when he was 7 months old. His presence helped to lessen the impact when two giraffes from Molokai died shortly before they were to be transported to Zoo Maui, Riggs said.
Riggs said $30,000, much of it raised through donations, had been spent to prepare an area for the two giraffes.
Honolulu Zoo mammal specialist Richard Ball called about two months after the death of the giraffes to ask Zoo Maui officials if they were interested in adopting a baby male giraffe.
Riggs said that before his trip yesterday, Squirt had been spending some time in his old packing crate for the past few weeks to help to prepare for the 12-hour ocean voyage from Kahului Harbor to Honolulu.
While in the crate, he has been given some of his favorite foods: monkey biscuits, pretzels, spinach and alfalfa hay.
One of the major problems facing Honolulu Zoo officials will be how to transport him safely from Honolulu Harbor to the zoo. Squirt's temperament is a bit different from many other zoo animals since he has been raised as the sole giraffe and lived close to people, as opposed to his parents and siblings, who have run in a herd.
"He's totally different. We've been his parents and he is family," Riggs said.
Riggs, whose home is at the former Zoo Maui, said she has grown attached to Squirt and his individual nuances, such as using his neck to give hugs to her and wearing a hat on special occasions. "He's mellow. He's just gentle and very sensitive and smart," Riggs said.
Riggs said Squirt developed individual skills rather than herd skills. One trick Honolulu Zoo officials might want to be aware of is his ability to unlatch gates with his tongue to free his animal friends.
Once at the Honolulu Zoo, Squirt will be kept separate from his family for a month as part of a standard quarantine period. Besides a mother and father, Squirt also has a brother and sister at the Honolulu Zoo. Zoo officials said because of his blood relationship, they do not want Squirt breeding within the giraffe stock.
Riggs said her family considers themselves fortunate to have known Squirt.
"It's going to be a sad time," she said, "but we feel blessed to be one of the few to have an opportunity to raise a giraffe."
