Keepers at a wildlife park in Kent say they are 'absolutely devastated' after a new giraffe, whose recent birth was live-streamed across the world, died just one month old.

Port Lympne Reserve near Hythe posted the sad news on their Facebook page on Thursday afternoon.

They confirmed to the Folkestone and Hythe Express, KentOnline's sister paper, that the infant died earlier in the week on Tuesday night.

The site, run by the Aspinall Foundation, reported that there were health complications for the mammal after he broke his leg.

In a statement on their blog and Facebook, the popular tourist attraction said: "We are very sad to announce the death of our male giraffe calf.

"He had been unwell for four days, was unsteady on his feet and had fallen several times.

"Whilst undertaking diagnostics and treatment, an accident occurred, causing him to break his leg."

It said the animal was put to sleep: "Unfortunately, the break was a complicated fracture that could not be fixed.

"Our expert vets made the sad decision to euthanise him."

Simon Jeffery, animal director at the centre, said: "The expert keepers, who worked so closely with the giraffe herd are absolutely devastated, as we are sure our supporters and visitors will be."

'The expert keepers, who worked so closely with the giraffe herd are absolutely devastated, as we are sure our supporters and visitors will be. - Simon Jeffery, animal director at Port Lympne

The male calf was born to mum Lehana on Thursday, June 7 at around 5.20pm.

The newborn's name was not publicly announced by the foundation before his untimely death, but the Reserve had recently been encouraging supporters to suggest African names for the calves as part of a fundraising drive.

Female giraffes Lehana and Lunar at the Reserve were simultaneously made pregnant by male giraffe Valentino, and the park set up a 'Giraffe Cam' in May for Youtube viewers around the world to follow their progress in labour.

The mothers arrived at Port Lympne Reserve in 2013 as part of a breeding programme designed to boost dwindling Rothschild giraffe numbers in the wild, where they are endangered species with fewer than 2500 mature Rothschild giraffes left.

They are usually found in Uganda and Kenya and spend up to 75% of the day eating a diet of leaves and bark, with their favourite being acacia trees.

Seven-year-old Lunar was expected to give birth first in June and was already mum to two-year-old female Mwezi - the first giraffe to be born at the reserve near Hythe in eight years when she arrived in 2016.

Lehana was due to give birth shortly after Lunar, but beat her by a week with the calf that has just passed away.

She has another calf called Bakora, a male born in December 2016.

Young giraffes are usually up and about only half an hour after being born.

The calves had been sharing their home with eight other giraffes who live on nearly 100 acres in Port Lympne’s African Experience while spending their nights in a heated indoor enclosure.

The park have been trying to raise funds to extend the giraffe house, with the intention of a nursery for the new calves in recent weeks.

To donate visit www.aspinallfoundation.org/donate and include ‘giraffe’ in the comments.