matt's boring

lament for the muskox

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Some of you may recall last year, a news story about an abandoned muskox baby who was named Chance. I admit, I was captivated by his story, and his cute little picture. Well, he died! :( I'm just going to copy the cbc.ca story instead of summing it up myself. The picture is also from cbc.ca.

Chance, the baby muskox foundling that captured the hearts of people across the North last year after he was found abandoned on the tundra, has died at a Yukon game farm. Officials with the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, Chance's home for the last 11 months, said the young muskox died last Friday, of apparent liver failure.

"I am told from the necropsy that he had an enlarged liver and a discoloured liver," said the president of the operating society for the preserve, Cary Gryba. "And that would indicate problems with possible liver failure.

"But until we're able to have a complete series of test results from the southern laboratory, we won't know with 100 per cent certainty what the cause of death was."

Gryba said staff at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve are in shock over his sudden death.

"It's difficult, we've nurtured and adopted him from the time he was just weeks old," he said.

Chance was brought to the game farm last May after being found abandoned on the tundra near Cambridge Bay. Officials cut through red tape in all three territories to expedite the animal's transfer from the Arctic community to the game farm outside of Whitehorse, 1,700 kilometres away.

There the baby was to join a small herd of 15 other muskox, but instead befriended another orphaned animal, a baby caribou called Bou.

Gryba said Chance's death is going to be difficult for everyone, especially for Bou.

"I'm sure that there is still some form of animal separation anxiety," he said. "We hope with love and attention, Bou will move through that too."

Chance, who was believed to be about two weeks old and was just knee-high when he was found, soon became a star attraction at the wildlife preserve.

At the time of his arrival, the preserve received e-mails and phone calls from people across Canada and the United States offering to help fund his care.

Muskox, which resemble bison, are more closely related to sheep and goats, according to the website Hinterland Who's Who.

I'm such a sucker for animal stories, and this one's so sad... poor little now-lonely Bou.

posted on Tuesday, April 04, 2006 at 6:21 p.m.. There are . If you want, you can leave your own response by clicking here. You may also send this post to a friend of yours via email, or bookmark it for yourself by using icons below;