Calgary Zoo the scene of several high profile deaths

A Calgary Zoo employee has been suspended after a female capybara, a species of giant rodent, died less than six months after it arrived at the facility. Zoo officials say the animal was killed after it was crushed by a gate.

The dead capybara is an 18-month-old named Adali. Capybaras are the largest rodent on the planet and, weighing around 65 kilograms, are about the size of a large dog. Two of the species arrived in Calgary in July from the Buffalo Zoo in New York.

The tragedy is just the latest in a string of high-profile deaths at the Calgary Zoo.

In April 2009, unseasonably cold weather froze two whopping crane eggs. They were a part of the zoo’s breeding program for the rare birds.

A Turkmenian markhor, a type of wild goat, died after it hung itself in January 2009. It apparently became entangled in rope from a zoo toy, which was suspended above a walkway. The markhor then slipped off the log ramp and broke its neck. Cathy Gaviller, the zoo’s director of conservation, education and research said at the time, "This was a very unfortunate accident that happened while the markhor was playing with an enrichment device placed in the enclosure to provide mental stimulation."

In November 2008, a virus killed a 15-month-old Asian elephant calf named Malti. She had been showing symptoms of the potentially lethal elephant herpesvirus, which leads to internal bleeding and heart failure. It’s believed Malti contracted the disease from an adult elephant, which can carry the illness without symptoms or becoming sick.

In May 2008, 41 of the 43 stingrays at the Calgary Zoo’s 37,000-litre touch-tank died. The zoo blamed human error for the deaths, saying it didn’t have the expertise to manage the stingrays and that a lack of dissolved oxygen led to the deaths. In March 2009, two more stingrays died after arriving at the zoo. Officials blame the deaths on a shipping problem. The exhibit has since been shut down.

And while an incident in June 2009 didn’t involve death, it certainly drew controversy. Zoo patrons were shocked to see Barika, a western lowland gorilla, holding a knife and apparently pointing it at another primate in the enclosure. A zookeeper had left the knife behind in the exhibit. The Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums has since cleared the Calgary Zoo in the incident.

With files from the Calgary Herald