Evidence, the I-75 zebra, has gone to that African savannah in the sky

By Gwynedd Stuart Thursday December 9, 2010 02:41 PM EST

It was announced today that Evidence, the teeny-tiny zebra who crammed his knock knees into our hearts when he was found injured on I-75 in April, passed away late last month.

According to Diane Smith at Noah’s Ark Animal Rehabilitation Center in Locust Grove — where Evidence was taken to recuperate from two surgeries and a nasty case of colic — our little, striped prince died en route to Auburn University (where he had his original surgeries) after taking a turn for the worse.

Here are some things that make Evidence’s death extra heart wrenching.

This picture. Cat + zebra + nuzzle x stripes = heart death:

ajc.com
Evidence and Mary the Cat making tender, interspecies love during better times

He died not of a broken heart, but of a broken urethra. Smith:
Evidence’s original doctor, Dr. Justin Harper, had warned us that there was a possibility as time passed that the stent was placed in him to repair his shattered urethra could fail. The necropsy showed that is exactly what happened. The stent failed, causing a back up of urine in his body, resulting in a system wide infection throughout his body. It happened quickly and without warning, giving us no time to perform any life saving measures.

He has more than 2,000 Facebook fans. And they are not taking it well:
“WHAT!!!!??? nooooooooo NOOOOOO NOOOO THIS CANNOT BE!!!” (Sample reaction from Facebook).

Click here to make a donation to Noah’s Arc in Evidence’s memory.