Brevard Zoo's longtime white-tailed deer, Clementine, dies of poor health at age 13
Clementine, a friendly white-tailed deer who greeted tens of thousands of Brevard Zoo visitors over the years, has died of deteriorated health.
Zoo officials decided to euthanize Clementine on Nov. 19.
"At 13 years old, Clementine was well beyond the life expectancy for a white-tailed deer," zoo officials said in a Wednesday blog post.
"Her older years coupled with an ongoing kidney disease led our animal care and veterinary staff to monitor her closely for any changes in her health and well-being," the post said.
"All older residents at our zoo receive assessments to assess their quality of life regularly," the post said.
Brevard Zoo's kid-centric Paws On petting zone (now the Barnyard) opened in February 2009. A FLORIDA TODAY story on opening day noted that Clementine — then an 8-month-old fawn — was one of the new exhibit's stars, along with Priscilla the emu and eight armadillos.
Clementine had arrived at the Viera zoo in 2008 with an injured leg, and she had been separated from her mother — likely because of brush fires in her natural habitat.
Recently, Clementine lived along the zoo's Wild Florida loop with Persimmon the white-tailed deer, a flock of Osceola turkeys, Florida sandhill cranes and Josie, a Baird’s tapir.
On Nov. 18, zoo staffers noticed Clementine was "lethargic and uninterested in her food." Several rounds of bloodwork showed that her health was deteriorating even with treatment, and staffers decided to euthanize her, the blog post said.
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“Clementine was able to create amazing connections with guests, especially with kids who would come to the zoo just to see and feed her,” Wild Florida keeper Marc Franzen said in the blog post.
“She was the perfect ambassador for all white-tailed deer and will be greatly missed by all who knew her,” Franzen said.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard Zoo's petting zoo star, white-tailed deer, Clementine, dies
