Posted on 09/07/2018 11:49:30 AM PDT by simpson96
LONDON -- An American scientist and her young son were fighting for their lives Friday in a South African hospital after being attacked by a giraffe at the wildlife reserve in South Africa where they live. Dr. Katy Williams, 35, and her son Finn, 3, were attacked by the female giraffe close to their home on the Blyde Wildlife Estate near Hoedspruit on Monday. Williams' British husband, Dr. Sam Williams, 36, came back from a run on the estate to find his wife and child being trampled and was able to chase the animal away.
A lawyer for the family, Marina Botha, told CBS News on Friday that both Williams and her son remained in critical but stable condition and were sedated. Katy had a "very long surgery" and Finn had also undergone an operation to release pressure on his brain from injuries sustained during the attack.
Botha told CBS News that she had spoken to the father, who works as a researcher at the reserve, and he said it would be a long recovery but that he and the doctors were pleased to see both patients "holding their own."
The manager of the Blyde estate, Riaan Cilliers, said in a statement that the attacking giraffe had a young calf, and it appeared that the animal had likely mistaken Williams and her son for a threat, prompting the unusual attack. He said both of the Williams are scientists "with post-PhD experience in animal related fields."
He said the couple understand nature after living and working for years in the African bush and that the incident could only be explained as "an act of nature."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
He said both of the Williams are scientists “with post-PhD experience in animal related fields.”
...
They have a lot more experience now.
No one to blame, this is just stuff that happens in nature.
Man.
You’re sitting in a wildlife reserve in Africa, keeping a close eye on the lions and crocodiles and hyenas and a giraffe comes over and does a tap dance on you.
it’s always the quiet ones that ya gotta watch out fer
Giraffe Lives Matter
That white family should use this as an excuse to get the hell out of SA.
Giraffes aren’t that quiet.
They do a lot of yodeling.
They have the throat for it.
Well. There goes my idea of taking a giraffe home as my Registered Therapy Animal.
Maybe get a pitbull instead?
The mother sounds like she had adequate training but sometimes even the best trained and most cautious will find themselves in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Too bad the little boy was there too.
Yeah, but having this happen to a 3 year old child?
Yeah. I blame the mother.
Maybe a pitgiraffe.
They wear black leather jackets.
A dog-eating giraffe.
The horror.....the horror.....
Giraffic Park?
What the heck, taking a toddler so close to a mother giraffe and her baby. Bet the toddler was throwing a tantrum which frightened the giraffe. The human mother was likely at fault.
Yeah. I blame the mother.
Nature is THEIR religion.... but they forget that nature is a thing apart and w/o any regard for THEM.
Geoffrey’s just getting back at “the man.”
This never would have happened before Toys-R-Us went bankrupt!
Mark
The only problem I see is how to mount the giraffe head so that you can hang it on the wall. Do you just have this long six foot neck with the head attached just jutting out from the wall? Or maybe you section it, and have several neck sections and the head mounted on separate adjoining plaques? Inquiring minds want to know.
To paraphrase Chris Rock (when he was talking about the tiger attack on Siegfried and Roy,) "That giraffe didn't go crazy. That giraffe went giraffe!"
Mark
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