ONE of the top stars of “Meerkat Manor” has died, the victim of a hit-and-run accident on a desert highway.
Rocket Dog, one of two key females headlining the new fourth season of “Meerkat” which premiered last night, perished when she was run down April 28 in Africa’s Kalahari Desert, where the revered Animal Planet series is filmed. She was four years old and leaves six offspring.
The driver of the vehicle, reportedly a truck, did not even stop, an all-too-typical scenario when animals are killed on this rough-hewn roadway running through one of the toughest terrains on Earth, sources say.
Animal Planet officials had tried to keep Rocket Dog’s death quiet to avoid marring the debut of the season, in which Rocket Dog and sister Maybelline – daughters of Flower, the late matriarch of “Meerkat Manor” – each vie to dominate the meerkat community. But avid fans of the show somehow learned of the tragedy and word spread yesterday on the Internet.
Rocket Dog died after all 13 episodes of the new season were filmed, so her death will not figure into any storylines. “We plan to do some sort of tribute to the fallen meerkat at the end of the season,” a network spokeswoman said.
Rocket Dog is the ninth meerkat to die during the show’s run; the other deaths have been attributed to more natural causes such as snake bites.