When a pregnant zebra at Valencia Bioparc in Spain went into labor, zookeepers quickly flocked to her side. The two zookeepers stayed by the zebra, La Nina, as she gave birth to a baby boy. The foal looked healthy, and the zookeepers were happy the zebra’s labor had gone so well.
But then, the zookeepers went to the cut the umbilical cord. And that’s where everything went wrong.
La Nina had given birth near the watering hole in her enclosure. When the zookeepers cut the umbilical cord, the baby foal tried to stand up—baby zebras are typically able to stand about 15 minutes after they’re born.
As the baby stood, he lost his balance, and to everyone’s shock, he fell into the watering hole. The little zebra immediately started panicking, and the zookeepers knew if they didn’t do something, the baby was going to drown.
The zookeepers ran into the water as fast as they could.
The worried mother ran to the water’s edge too, but she hesitated, afraid to go in. She watched with wide eyes as the zookeepers approached her baby. Then, once she saw that the baby couldn’t get out on his own, she also ran into the water.
While La Nina watched, the zookeepers grabbed the little zebra. Together, they carried the scared animal out of the water. Soon, he was safely on dry land!
La Nina was relieved to see her baby was okay, and she quickly started licking him. The little foal sat on the ground, catching his breath after his dramatic start to life. Thankfully, though, the baby was okay, and he was soon up and walking around like nothing had happened!
Valencia Bioparc shared a video of the zebra’s fall into the water on their YouTube page, and it quickly received over 60,000 views. Everyone was relieved to see the zebra was okay!
Journalists around the world wrote about the baby’s dramatic rescue, and they joked he should be named “Milagros,” which means “Miracle.” The zookeepers loved that idea, and they decided to name him “Milagritos—” Little Miracle.
Milagritos is doing very well now.
The little zebra loves hanging out with his mom and his sister Bani, and he also likes spending time with the rest of the herd. We’re sure Milagritos is very careful around the water now, though!
In September 2018, the zoo’s third and last foal of the season was born. Thankfully, his birth was much less dramatic than Milagritos’ birth!
Milagritos’ first few moments of life were very dramatic, but thankfully, he’s okay now! If you’d like to see the heroic zookeepers rescuing little Milagritos, check out the video below.
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