Zuberi
© Zoo Atlanta
An 8-year-old male giraffe at Zoo Atlanta has died in a freak accident after getting his neck trapped in a railing, the Georgia park announced Tuesday.

Zuberi died Monday in the zoo's behind-the-scenes giraffe complex, an area "very familiar" to the reticulated giraffe and his herd, according to a press release.

Despite being watched by members of his care team just moments before, Zuberi's neck became stuck "in a small space in a metal railing."

"(It's an) extraordinarily unusual situation," Dr. Jennifer Mickelberg, the zoo's vice president of collections and conservation, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Unfortunately, we may never know (what happened). It's not like a railing where a child could put their head through. It surprised us all."

The animal died shortly after getting trapped, despite immediate aid from the zoo's Animal Care Team, Veterinary Team and large-mammal animal care specialists.

"Zuberi was an important part of the giraffe herd and a special individual," Vice President of Animal Divisions Hayley Murphy said in a statement. "The Zoo Atlanta family ... are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic and unexpected loss. Zuberi showed no signs of injury, illness or distress in the moments prior to this event."

The late giraffe, whose body is currently undergoing the animal equivalent of an autopsy, was born in February 2010 at the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, S.C. The name Zuberi translates to strong in Swahili.

Mickelberg told the AJC his body will be cremated.

Zuberi's death isn't the first for a giraffe at Zoo Atlanta. In 2013, a 7-year-old adult female giraffe named Mona died of internal bleeding she sustained in a suspected fall.

Various other giraffes at zoos across the country have suffered similar fates, including a young male giraffe at Zoo Miami who got his head stuck between two posts and died of a spinal injury in 2016, a calf who broke her neck after a fall at the Dallas Zoo in 2015 and a baby giraffe who suffered "neck trauma" after running into a metal wire barrier at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo that same year.

Two young giraffes also died at the Maryland Zoo of unknown illnesses months apart last year, while a 6-year-old male giraffe was killed at the Lehigh Valley Zoo after it was struck by an older giraffe and broke its neck.