I've been trying to work this out and wonder if it's because he was a popular attraction when a baby/young now he's just another adult giraffe so not as cute.
I don't understand the conservation issue either. I don't think that giraffes are a threatened species. Surely all the giraffes that they now breed are going to have the same problem, that they all come from a limited gene pool. So this means either, no more breeding or using animals captured from the wild. Which won't be acceptable to most people.