A Rhinoceros at Whipsnade Zoo in England seriously injured a zookeeper in an incident on Wednesday. According to Yahoo! News , a senior zookeeper in his 50’s was found “immersed in water” inside the rhino’s enclosure. While it is unclear exactly what happened and how, it is presumed that the zookeeper was brutally attacked.
“When we arrived it was clear that the patient had received a number of injuries, including injuries to the chest, abdomen and pelvis. We stabilised the patient whilst the air ambulance was on its way,” said Dave Tamarro, of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. The man suffered serious injuries to his chest, abdomen, and pelvis.
The Rhinoceros at Whipsnade Zoo reportedly “cornered” the zookeeper, who was inside the Asian rhino enclosure, perhaps during a routine feeding or cleaning. According to NBC News , the incident happened around 8:30 a.m. local time. The rhino that attacked the zookeeper is said to weigh about two tons.
While not specified, it is believed that the animal involved in the attack was a black rhino . According to Africa Wildlife Detective, black rhinos have bad attitudes, and are known to be more on the aggressive side.
“[Black rhinos] can charge at 50 km/h, and are most likely to attack if taken by surprise. If you are on a walking safari in areas where they occur it is a good idea to move very quietly so that they have plenty of warning of your approach and have a chance to move away.”
Knowing this information, it’s unclear why the zookeeper was in close proximity with the animal, or if he did something to startle the animal, in turn making him angry.
The Rhinoceros at Whipsnade Zoo was only one of the animal attack stories reported this week. There was another attack, this time in The States, that resulted in the death of a woman. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , a dog pack in Wyoming attacked 40-year-old tribal member Deanne Lynn Coando. The woman’s cause of death was due to a combination of hypothermia and bite wounds. It is unclear why the dog pack attacked Coando, but there have not been significant attacks like this in the area despite the increasing number of dogs on the Northern Arapaho Tribe reservation.
“I don’t mind sharing with you my observation that we have too many dogs on the reservation, probably cats, too. It’s not a problem safety wise for people and livestock. I haven’t heard of anything like that,” explained Sergio Maldonado, Sr.
[Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons ]
