COURTESY PHOTO
Giovanni “Gio” Maggiore died at age 6 of a congenital heart problem.
By STEVE FREKER
MEDFORD — The bid by hundreds of schoolchildren and others across the city of Medford united in a push to memorialize a lovable 6-year-old local boy has fallen short.
The family of the late Giovanni “Gio” Maggiore led a local and regional voting drive to name a baby boy giraffe with the moniker, “Gio”. The baby giraffe was born to April the giraffe at the popular Animal Adventure Park in upstate New York, shortly after the Brooks School first-grader died from a serious congenital heart problem.
Students at the Brooks School got behind the voting drive and it swiftly spread around most of the other Medford schools. “Gio” made the top 10 in the voting finals, which ended Sunday, April 30.
Animal Adventure Park officials announced Monday that the newborn giraffe will be called “Tajiri,” the name that topped the voting list.
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April, the mother giraffe, was the subject of a record-breaking internet live-stream as she endured what seemed to be an never-ending labor. She finally gave birth over Easter weekend, around the same time Gio was laid to rest.
Gio was a friendly, outgoing boy who embraced the positives in life and just loved giraffes, according to his mother, Maya, who is a teacher at the Columbus School in Medford.
“It was his favorite Halloween costume and even his first pacifier had a giraffe printed on it,” she said.