Kristen Fiore
Audio By Carbonatix
Everyone was looking forward to the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance’s first tamandua birth in over a decade. Seven-year-old anteater Winnie’s pregnancy announcement brought much joy to DZCA staff and visitors, with an Instagram post that amassed thousands of likes and even a Westword story.
Winnie participated in weekly ultrasounds, and the baby was supposed to be born sometime in late January. But on December 30, DZCA shared a devastating update on Instagram: The baby was born around three weeks premature on December 27 and did not survive.
“Our Animal Care and Veterinary Medicine teams immediately jumped into action and worked tirelessly over the weekend to try to stabilize the baby. Despite their best efforts, the pup sadly passed away on December 28,” the post says.
The DZCA adds that Winnie is currently doing well, and staff will continue to monitor her health and well-being. “This outcome was unexpected and has been a hard loss for our teams,” it says.
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It’s a hard loss for anyone who has followed Winnie’s pregnancy journey. The most spunky tamandua at the zoo, Winnie amused the care team and tamandua fans alike with her hankering for avocado mashed to perfect consistency, which she snacked on during ultrasounds, and her walks around the zoo as an animal ambassador.
“Winnie’s the best. She’s my number one gal,” animal care specialist Rebecca Wanner told Westword after the tamandua’s pregnancy announcement. “…She’s met a lot of people, she’s met a lot of kids. I always like to joke since she’s so self-involved about her snacks and her walk that she doesn’t mind if people come up to her or come close to her. She definitely doesn’t have the correct fear responses. She likes cars, no big deal. Crunchy leaves in fall? Will lose her mind. She’s a very individual kind of tamandua with a very distinct personality that you can tell is very much different than our other two.”
