By Alex Madison

Evergreen Community reporter

At 8 feet tall, atop four gangly legs, sits the brown-eyed, face of Misawa (me-SAW-wah), the newest baby giraffe at the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo.

Born Aug. 6, Misawa got his name from the students of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. The privilege of naming the baby giraffe was first extended to veterinary dean Bryan Slinker who, in turn, made it a poll for the students.

“This is a very special privilege that we as a college have been given, and I am honored,” Slinker said.

The students chose the name Misawa, a common greeting in an indigenous Luo language from Tanzania and southwest Kenya, to honor the giraffe’s native range, said Charlie Powell, public information officer for the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The name is especially fitting given the college’s dedication to human and wildlife health in Africa and other countries through programs headed by the Paul G. Allen School of Global Animal Health, Slinker said.

Current programs within the school are in partnership with the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi, a region to which giraffes like Misawa are native, Slinker said.

Currently, Allen School programs are working in Nyanza Province of western Kenya to collect data from more than 6,000 families in regards to the health of their animals, Powell said.

“The goal of these programs is the health and economic security of the developing world, who depend on livestock for their existence,” Slinker said.

Data from this study will help policymakers set health priorities and decide where allocate resources to do the most good, Powell said.

The origin of Misawa’s name as a greeting appropriately hints at the coming together of two great friends, said Gigi Allianic, public relations and communications manager at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Since 2007, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo have shared a partnership aimed at critical research and education in wildlife conservation both locally and abroad, Allianic said.

“It is an important goal of both organizations to educate the public,” Slinker said. “It’s through education programs that we hope to instill a conservation spirit in people.”

The education programs also include opportunities for WSU veterinary students to receive hands-on experience at the zoo with a variety of animals, along with assisting in Woodland Park’s worldwide research in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, Allianic said.

“Zoo’s are among the only place where people can hear, see and examine animals up close,” Allianic said.

Misawa, who has “stolen the hearts of the community,” as Allianic said, spends most of his time in the outdoor arena of the giraffe barn with his 6-year-old mother Olivia and 5-year-old aunt Tufani.