Giraffe finds her sea legs

Shira the giraffe being fed on it is sea voyage to Timaru. Photo / Supplied

Shira, the young female giraffe on her way from Auckland to a new home in the South Island, has gained her sea legs en route to Timaru.

Auckland Zoo, which farewelled the two-year-old part-Rothschild giraffe when she was loaded on to the deck of a big cargo ship yesterday, says the sea air is also giving her a healthy appetite.

"She is particularly enjoying carrots," a spokeswoman said this afternoon, as the 31,000-tonne MV Shanti and its precious cargo steamed down the Wairarapa east coast towards landfall in Timaru tomorrow afternoon.

"They are going really well - they have gorgeous weather and calm seas."

Shira, who was born at the zoo in 2013, is being transferred to Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park to join three other female giraffes - two adults and three-year-old Harriet.

She will be followed early next year by her slightly younger half-sister Mdomo, the pair having been trained for several months to walk into and eat in tall crates purpose-built to house them throughout their respective journeys by land and sea.

Accompanying Shira on her voyage are three zoo staff, vet manager Dr James Chatterton, Pridelands team leader Nat Sullivan and keeper Larry Lee, who will also travel by road to Timaru tomorrow to help to settle her in at Orana.

Her crate with an upper opening and removable top is 4.2 metres high, ruling out a more direct trip via Lyttelton as it would not fit through the road tunnel between the port town and Christchurch.

Shira measures up at just under 4m, about twice her birth height.

Orana marketing manager Nathan Hawke said the wildlife park, an open-range zoo hosting about 70 species across 80 hectares of land open to public display, was looking forward to welcoming Shira tomorrow evening.

Mr Hawke said the intention was to integrate her immediately with Orana's three other giraffes, who the public get to feed by hand at noon each day.

His zoo was the birthplace in 1998 of Shira and Mdomo's father Zabulu, who was transferred at an early age to Auckland, where he remains.