Call for votes to name new giraffe at Milwaukee County Zoo

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is asking for the public's help in naming the baby giraffe born at the Milwaukee County Zoo last month.

A female giraffe was born April 26 to first-time mother Marlee and father Bahatika. The female reticulated giraffe calf joins brother Tafari, another new giraffe born at the zoo in September 2015. The public was also invited to help choose a name for Tafari after his birth. More than 5,000 votes were cast.

Now an online contest has been set up to choose a name for the zoo's latest addition.

Name options include:

·Abena, meaning "born on a Tuesday"

·Kibibi, meaning "little lady"

·Makena, meaning "the happy one"

·Shani, meaning "marvelous"

·Zola, meaning "to love"

Voting opens May 18 and will remain open until 11:59 p.m. May 24. The votes will be tabulated and the winning name will be announced at 10 a.m. May 26, marking the giraffe's one-month birthday.

Votes can be cast at the Milwaukee County Zoo's website, milwaukeezoo.org/giraffename. Participants are asked to cast to only vote once.