Visitors to a Texas safari park were left horrified after witnessing a giraffe lift a toddler out of the sunroof of a vehicle.
One of the helpless attendees at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center over the weekend was Lindsey Merriman, who, with her family, was several cars behind the vehicle in question and managed to capture the moment on camera.
She recalled: "My daughter was recording a giraffe eating out of people’s hands and dipping its head in sunroofs.
Advert
"We were three cars behind a red truck and saw the giraffe accidentally grab a little girl’s shirt along with the food and lift her from the bed of the truck."
As reported by Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the days the followed, the child was a two-year-old girl, whose shirt was grabbed by the giraffe by its mouth.
ABC later identified the little girl as Paisley Toten.
Her dad, Jason Toten, told KWTX: "We stopped to feed the giraffes, and I turned around to look out the back window, and I saw the giraffe kind of digging around right there, and then it just grabbed her, and I didn’t see her no more."
It is believed that the animal was attempting to eat the food out of the tot's hands, but accidentally clasped its teeth around her t-shirt, inadvertently pulling her partially out of the sunroof before dropping her back down into the vehicle.
In the clip, an adult's arms - believed to have belonged to one of her parents - could be seen thrown up out of the sunroof, in an attempt to catch the youngster.
Thankfully, the news outlet confirmed that no one in the car had been harmed during the interaction.
Fossil Rim has since issued a statement to ABC, claiming it plans to take 'immediate action'.
It read: "We were recently made aware of an incident involving one of our giraffes that occurred this past weekend.
"The incident was first reported to us on Monday June 3rd. The safety of our guests and animals is always of utmost importance to us.
"Although an incident like this has never occurred here previously, we are taking immediate action to make sure it won't happen again."
The statement continued: "Effective immediately Fossil Rim will no longer be allowing guests to ride through the park in truck beds.
"Fossil Rim offers a variety of experiences guided by knowledgeable staff so guests can continue to have up-close and memorable animal encounters, and support our mission to save threatened and endangered species."
Tyla has contacted the animal park for further comment.
Rhianna Benson