Penny, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s newest giraffe, was euthanized Monday after veterinarians determined that her dislocated hip, infected leg and other health complications would prevent her from living a good life.

She was born eight weeks ago, on June 4, the 200th giraffe calf born at the Colorado Springs zoo.

Last weekend, Penny was taken to the Colorado State University, where staff from the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences expected to perform surgery Monday on her infected leg. But when veterinarians found that Penny’s hip was dislocated, too, they canceled the surgery and mulled how best to treat her. Ultimately, euthanization was chosen Monday night. The zoo is planning her memorial service.

“We will all miss Penny tremendously,” said zoo president and CEO Bob Chastain.

“Although our sadness at this time is palpable, we are taking solace in the fact that we truly believe we made the best decisions for her during her short life that we could. And we hope those who have watched Penny’s journey can take comfort in the fact that we made every decision with Penny’s best interests in mind, and we held nothing back from her fans. We were all in this together.”

Penny’s case will be used to further giraffe medicine, as a team of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo staffers and a CSU veterinarian travel to Uganda to help giraffe conservation and protection efforts there.

Penny drew attention from the live-streaming of her birth and medical struggles that followed her splay at nine days.

Chastain shared information about Penny’s condition Monday afternoon, when veterinarians were weighing how best to address the abscess and her degenerating femoral head — the highest part of the thigh bone. Those health complications forced her to stand awkwardly.

“Taken individually, all these things can be treated,” Chastain said earlier Monday. But the surgeries would have required a long healing period and could have failed.

Femur bones have been successfully replaced in ponies and miniature horses, but only one horse weighing more than 880 pounds ever survived the operation.

And a giraffe’s bone is much longer than that of a horse, complicating the procedure.

These factors “lead us to believe that that surgery would not be successful,” Chastain said.

The abscess was more pervasive than anticipated, spreading from her hip bone to her abdomen.

After healing, Penny would have needed surgery for her joint, and it could have taken two years before showing signs of failure.

Also, her white blood cell count was rising despite her treatment with antibiotics.

Memorial gifts can be contributed at cmzoo.org/helppenny.

The giraffe building will be closed to the public Tuesday and Wednesday to give zookeepers privacy.

A box will be outside the building for guests to leave cards for the keepers.