And in a touching moment, as Mario was taken next to the enclosure, one of the giraffes approached him and gave him a kiss goodbye.
Mario has spent most of his adult life cleaning the giraffe enclosure at Rotterdam's Diergaarde Blijdorp zoo, until a terminal cancer rendered him unable to continue working there.
His dying wish to see the animals one last time was granted by the Ambulance Wish Foundation, who commented that the interaction between Mario and the giraffe was 'A very special moment. You saw him beaming.'
The charity specialises in granting wishes to terminally ill patients who are no longer mobile. Their specially designed ambulances have long windows so that patients can watch the landscape rush past.
Mario, who is mentally disabled, also took time at the zoo to say goodbye to his old colleagues.