Poor baby Zahara. She could use some good luck.

The giraffe born Aug. 24 at the Toledo Zoo was rejected by her mother at birth, then battled bacterial infection a month later. Just when it appeared she was finally as healthy as she could be, Zahara developed another worrying problem: a kink in her very long neck.

Keepers discovered the 3-inch bump early this month.

It seemed somewhat painful to her, said Dr. Wynona Shellabarger, the zoo s chief veterinarian. She was exhibiting pain in moving her neck and walking a little more stiffly.

Adult giraffes have been known to bonk babies right on the head, Dr. Shellabarger said, causing similar injuries. But Zahara is kept separate from the other giraffes, and no one had seen any trouble during her fleeting introductions to the zoo s other female Masai giraffes, Charlotte and Elvira. Charlotte is Zahara s mother.

After five days of observation, the bump disappeared, only to reappear the day keepers planned to resume Zahara s introduction to the adult giraffes.

She had trouble moving her neck in certain directions, and was having some sort of muscle spasms. It would kind of kink or pop when she moved certain ways, Dr. Shellabarger said.

With the recurrence, the veterinarian decided to conduct an examination. Anesthesia is always dangerous, but it is particularly risky for giraffes. Their heads must be raised at all times, so total sedation is out of the question.

Zahara got a light dose of drugs to make her dopey. While a woozy Zahara sat on the floor of a 15-by-15-foot holding stall with her legs to the side, five keepers took their positions. Mike Dilley, associate curator of primates and small mammals, secured her back legs by putting one knee between them. When she tried to get up, her legs scissored against his leg instead. Three other men were at her back, and another dealt with her front legs. Her legs were wrapped in blankets to keep them from bruising and scraping if she should kick. Through it all, one of Zahara s keepers stroked her neck.

While they had trouble holding her down at times, the giraffe was mostly her sweet-natured self, licking her keeper s head and trying to chew her hair, calmed by the blindfold covering her eyes.

Mr. Dilley said Zahara was placid as the vet wrapped a moldable splint around her neck to stabilize it.

Unfortunately, a precise diagnosis was impossible, Dr. Shellabarger said. The zoo s portable X-ray unit broke during the exam.

The veterinarian hopes the splint will provide stability while the giraffe heals from the kink, which may have come from a lax ligament, a space at the growing ends of the vertebrae, or some inherited malformation.

A second X-ray will only be tried if the splint fails to relieve the knot, Dr. Shellabarger said.

Contact Jenni Laidman at: jenni@theblade.com or 419-724-6507.

First Published January 20, 2006, 1:33 p.m.