GLEN ROSE, Texas — A Texas family had a scare when a giraffe bite turned a 2-year-old’s safari visit into an aviation adventure.
Paisley Toten sat in a pickup truck on June 1 as her family drove through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, where visitors can see exotic animals such as zebras, giraffes and sable antelope, and feed some of them from the car.
The family stopped to feed the giraffe when it grabbed Paisley’s shirt with its mouth and lifted her several feet. Paisley’s mother lay in bed with her in the pickup truck and screamed, prompting the giraffe to throw the toddler into her arms unharmed. A video of the meeting, recorded from a car behind, found its way onto the Internet. The girl’s family also made their own film.
“Paisley was holding the bag and the giraffe went to get the bag, but it didn’t go for it, but it ended up taking Paisley’s shirt and picking it up,” Jason Toten, the girl’s father, told KWTX.
“My heart stopped, my stomach dropped… it scared me,” Toten said.
The family then took the girl to a store and bought her a toy giraffe.
Parking rules while visiting family allowed driving in the open bed of the truck as long as an adult was riding with children. On Thursday, the park changed its safety rules, requiring everyone to stay in their vehicles with the doors closed.