The photograph of a heartbreaking moment where a giraffe recognises a terminally ill former zoo worker and reaches in to give him a final kiss goodbye has gone viral.
Mario, 54, has worked at Rotterdam Zoo in the Netherlands for 25 years, but was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness that left him bed-bound.
His final wish was to say goodbye to the animals he had long loved and cared for, and the Ambulance Wish Foundation made that dream come true. They brought him to the zoo in his hospital bed to the zoo, and from the photo above it was not just him that wanted to say goodbye.
The Ambulance Wish Foundation relies on 200 volunteers to help make terminally ill patients’ final wishes come true, transporting them in specially equipped ambulances around the Netherlands.
