An ordinary safari trip at a German park took a terrifying turn earlier this week when one of the park’s rhinos repeatedly started charging and flipping one of the vehicles – with one of the zookeepers still inside the vehicle!
The attack was filmed by a nearby vehicle which contained 12 guests at the park, and has since garnered considerable attention online.
The zookeeper, in a zebra-pattern vehicle, was thrown around multiple times by the disgruntled rhino.
The Rhino, a 30-year-old male named Kusini, repeatedly thrust its body into the sides of the vehicle, and punctured the vehicles body with its horn causing the car to flip.
The incident took place in Serengeti Park, a German safari park located in Lower Saxony.
According to the park’s Facebook page, Serengeti Park was founded in 1974, and is home to over 1,500 animals with over 40 rides for the public to enjoy.
The zookeeper inside the battered vehicle apparently emerged largely unscathed.
The park’s manager Fabrizio Sepe explained that the staff member had miraculously only sustained a few cuts and bruises, according to Bild . The car, however, wasn’t so lucky, with its roof completely caved in and all of the windows destroyed.
Sepe said of the employee, “She is very experienced, with us for 25 years. She has a concussion and bruises, but wants to work Friday again.”
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If I’d been attacked by a rhino like that, I’d be taking the damn year off… which is also why I’m not a zookeeper.
It is still unclear as to what prompted the rhino to become so enraged.
It is known that the rhino has only been at the park for 18 months, and so it is thought that the animal may still be acclimatising to its new environment.
The rhino is normally only allowed to roam in the mornings and evenings.
Despite Sepe, the park manager, claiming that the rhino does not pose a risk to guests at the park, they have begun considering the option that the rhino may be more suited to a zoo environment.
The park may be reluctant to part with the animal, however, as the bull was initially given to the park for breeding purposes.
According to the WWF , there are hardly any rhinos in the wild outside of national parks and reservations. This is a massive decline from the approximately 500,000 wild rhinos that roamed Africa and Asia at the start of the 20th Century.
The numbers of rhinos has declined severely due to poaching and the loss of their habitats.
The extent of their persecution as a species has been so immense that there are several species of rhino which are bordering on extinction – for instance, only three northern white rhinos left in existence. If we do not continue to fight the poaching of these magnificent animals then they will not be here for our future generations.
Hopefully, should the wildlife park not be able to keep Kusini, they will ultimately find a more suitable place for him.
The website for Serengeti Park states that since the park has been opened, more than 40 baby rhinos have been born there. Also, their website boasts that, “In 1996, for the first time in history, a European-born rhino was successfully released into the Etosha National Park in Africa,” which is pretty impressive!
There is every chance that Kusini may eventually settle in to the park, however, at this time it is uncertain to say.
Male rhinos can weigh up to 3.6 tonnes, and their horns can grow to over a metre long, so its no surprise the damage that they are capable of doing. This zookeeper is certainly lucky that they didn’t sustain more serious injuries!
h/t: Yahoo Lifestyle
