Second zoo giraffe dies this week, this time in N.J.

It has been a tough week for giraffes in the region – but there's also a bright spot.

Hodari, a giraffe at the Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County, New Jersey, has died from dental-surgery complications, the zoo said Wednesday. The announcement follows the Sunday death of another giraffe at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

Three weeks ago, a Turtle Back Zoo veterinarian noticed that the 18-foot-tall, 11-year-old Masai giraffe was having trouble with its teeth. At the time, Hodari tolerated the anesthesia for an examination. In another procedure to correct the issue, the animal experienced complications, NJ.com reported.

"We believed this would give Hodari a better quality of life, improve his overall health and allow him to continue to thrive at Turtle Back Zoo. We knew there were risks when putting an animal of Hodari's size under anesthesia, but we also knew repairing his teeth would be more beneficial for him," veterinarian Dr. Jon Bergmann wrote in a statement, the news outlet reported.

Ernie, a 6-year-old Masai giraffe at the Lehigh Valley Zoo died after injuring his neck. He was brought to the zoo from the Kansas City Zoo in Missouri, along with his father, 16-year-old Murphy, as part of a $3.8 million expansion of the Schnecksville zoo's African animals exhibit.

In brighter news, the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown announced Tuesday that it has two new giraffes. Gerald came to Montgomery County from the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History in Sioux Falls, S.D., while Mokolo came from the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D.

The Masai giraffes are typically found in southern Kenya and Tanzania. They are the largest subspecies of giraffes and the tallest land mammals. As a species, giraffes are listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because of their decline in population, from about 155,000 in the 1980s to fewer than 100,000 now.