A giraffe was killed after its head crashed against a low bridge during transportation in South Africa, officials said Thursday.
Two giraffes were being transported and were on their way on capital Pretoria's N1 highway at the time of the incident. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the animal died of head trauma. "The head of the giraffe was above the vehicle," Tshwane SPCA managing director Rick Allan said.
Allan told NBC News that the way the giraffes were being transported was "incorrect and not up to standards.Their heads were above the vehicle which meant that one of them cracked their head on the bridge. That's something we are very concerned about and we will be looking at a prosecution under animal cruelty legislation." He said that the animal might have died instantly.
The other giraffe was admitted to a wildlife veterinary clinic.
Multiple eyewitnesses said they saw two giraffes being transported from Pretoria's N1 highway. "As I was getting shots (photos) the truck went under a bridge and suddenly one of the giraffes hit its head HARD on the concrete. The sound was so loud that my cousin, who was driving, asked me if there was someone shooting because she thought she'd heard a gunshot!" Pabi Moloi who was with her cousin in a car, tweeted.
"That sound of a skull being hit and the force with which it threw the giraffes head forward is something I won't easily forget," she added.
Number of users on Twitter said the incident had an uncanny similarity to a similar scene in the movie 'The Hangover Part III,' in which Zach Galifianakis's character accidentally bangs a giraffe while transporting the animal in his vehicle.
