http://abcnews.go.com/Internat...ay-overpass-24801714


South Africa: Giraffe's Head Hits Highway Overpass
JOHANNESBURG — Aug 1, 2014, 7:13 AM ET
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA Associated Press
Associated Press

Those responsible for the death of a giraffe whose head struck a South African highway overpass while it was being transported in a truck will likely be prosecuted under animal protection laws, an official said Friday.

The accident on a highway between Pretoria and Johannesburg on Thursday was very unsettling because it could easily have been avoided, said Rick Allan, an animal welfare officer.

"It's just so unnecessary," said Allan, head of the Pretoria area branch of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The group's members were able to respond quickly to the giraffe accident because they were already out on the highway attending to a separate case of cattle stranded because of a truck breakdown, he said.

Prior to the giraffe accident, startled motorists took photographs of the truck, which was carrying two giraffes whose long necks were visible above the sides of the vehicle. The surviving giraffe was taken to a wildlife clinic.

Pabi Moloi, a radio and television presenter, told South African news channel eNCA that she was in a car on the highway and saw the giraffes just before the accident.

"The impact of the giraffe's head on the bridge was so loud that my cousin, who was driving me, asked if someone had been shot," Moloi said. "I saw the giraffe hit its head very hard on the concrete under the bridge and kind of be propelled forward."

Then, Moloi said in the eNCA interview, she saw "the giraffe's head descend into the truck that it was in."

The other giraffe appeared to escape injury by millimeters because it was slightly shorter than the animal that was hit, Moloi said.

The truck earlier broke down for hours on the side of the road, according to South African media.

Animal welfare officers have interviewed witnesses and obtained documents from nature conservation officials who had issued permits for the transport of the giraffes, said Allan, the animal welfare officer. The investigation includes determining where the giraffes were being transported from, as well as their destination, according to Allan.

"We've got all the evidence," he said. All that remains, he said, is "to prove our case."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS38UXAXodk


News interview/photos.

ala Hangover 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlGOZLUO-c

Life imitating "art".

Would have never happened with a duck.

[Sorry, it was just too inviting.]

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Would have never happened with a duck.

[Sorry, it was just too inviting.]

HAHAHA! thanks, that made my day.

She said the truck was moving slowly, the speed a person could go ! Also that the sound when the giraffe's head hit the bridge was as loud as a gunshot.
??? If it was moving so slowly how could the sound be so loud ?
If it was so slow why didn't the giraffe duck ?
Having read of the damage a giraffe's head could cause , why wasn't the bridge damaged ?
I want the facts ma'am , just the facts !

I've got nothhing better to do at 2:00am !

At first I laughed. Hysterically. And then it was:

So?
Dead giraffe
We kill animals every day
Shit happens...

quote:

If it was so slow why didn't the giraffe duck ?

From the pictures it looked like they had their faces covered.

What could possibly go wrong????

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
So?
Dead giraffe
We kill animals every day
Shit happens...

If the driver actually intended to end life with a explicit purpose of doing so via Transport rather than bullet then perhaps I could accept the means.

This example though is to the point of the those who have posed the question "and we wonder why the world laughs at us" - yeah. Not much than asking folks in the South to "hold mah beer and watch this".

Kinda like using a blow drier in the bathtub. I mean, what could go wrong?

Unqualified drivers do that all the time with high loads. Just look at the bottoms of the hwy bridges you drive under no matter where you are.

Off the track some. When I was trucking for a living we had to call dispatch twice a day to let 'em know where we were. I asked Pete how he was doing. "not so well, the last caller was hauling an Army tank and the barrel hadn't been tied/locked down and had ratcheted up. He'd just taken out a low wooden bridge with it".

The second vid, is that real or a movie setup??

George

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
... the sound when the giraffe's head hit the bridge was as loud as a gunshot. ??? If it was moving so slowly how could the sound be so loud ?

It's pretty clear what really happened; the giraffe was actually shot by some guy up on the grassy knoll.