KRISTIANSAND, Norway, March 31 Officials at Norway's Kristiansand Animal Park were forced to euthanize their prized male giraffe Georg this week because of a lingering foot injury.With Georg suffering for the past year with a significant injury to one of his feet and traditional treatments proving ineffective, officials at the popular family site decided Friday to euthanize the giraffe, Aftenposten reported.Park official Rolf-Arne Olberg said that while the decision has emotionally devastated many employees, it was clear that the injury did not respond to being placed in a traditional cast."When we took off the plaster on Thursday it was clear that the bone had not healed as we had hoped. His condition got worse during the night," Olberg said. "Georg was a fine and easy-going giraffe. This is a very sad day for us all," the official added. Olberg told Aftenposten that the park will now search for a new partner for Georg's mate Malin to avoid any further suffering due to giraffes' tendency to languish when alone.Copyright 2007 by UPI
