Zoo manager suspended after third giraffe death at Siberian zoo

'A third giraffe, Zabava, died on Sunday. Mayor Edkham Akbulatov has ordered a special commission to be set up to find out why they died', said a spokesman. 

'The zoo manager has been suspended while this process is taking place'.

The first giraffe died on 26 September, reportedly from organ failure. The second succumbed to stress, it was said. 

This was reported in international newspapers as death from a broken heart. 

At the time, zoo director Nikolai Kulakov insisted the giraffes - in a group of six imported from South Africa in 2007 - were well kept. 

The tragic deaths were said to be a coincidence. 

But the third death is causing alarm and an official investigation has been tasked with explaining the deaths. 

The giraffes were 'an instant hit with the public in Krasnoyarsk', reported RIA Novosti. 

The zoo declined to comment on the giraffe deaths.