Shock as Giraffe Smashes Car Windshield While Being Fed at Safari Park

A day spent at a safari park is usually fun for everyone. But one TikToker recently shared a less than idyllic experience with an animal at such a park in England.

In the video, which has received over 1 million views, user Ella Burke describes the unfortunate incident, which occurred at West Midland Safari Park in Worcestershire.

While she was passing through an area of the park where visitors can hand-feed the giraffes, an overzealous giraffe stuck its head through the window into the car, stealing a box of food and cracking the windscreen with its horns.

"We had a great time apart from the smashed windowscreen thanks giraffe," reads the caption.

Newsweek reached out to Burke via email for comment.

On its website, the park offers some guidelines for enjoying it safely;

• Do not touch or feed our camel, zebra, giraffe Barbary sheep or any carnivore.
• Do not allow animals to put their head inside your vehicle; keep your windows half shut or shut completely.
• When feeding, hold your hand flat, outside the vehicle and at arm's length.
• To stop feeding, turn your hand, drop the feed and bring your hand back inside your vehicle.
• West Midland Safari & Leisure Park accepts no responsibility for damage to persons or property by the animals.

A spokesperson for the West Midlands Safari Park told Newsweek, "Our guidance clearly states that guests are asked not to feed the giraffes and should keep car windows half shut at all times. This is available on signage around the safari drive-through, on our boxes of animal food and via our website. This is in place for the welfare of our animals and to minimize the chances of any damage to a guest's vehicle."

Some zoos have been under scrutiny in recent years for questionable animal welfare practices, and debate continues as to whether wildlife parks are any better.

Freedom for Animals, one of the longest-running charities in the U.K., says on its website that one of the reasons safari parks aren't ethical is because they "expose animals to after-hours parties."

Freedom for Animals also says that in 2012 the park provided white lion cubs "to a notorious circus animal trainer, who sent them to a travelling circus in Japan."

"In 2010, Freedom for Animals obtained footage of white lions being trained for a circus-style performance at Oxfordshire-based animal training business Amazing Animals (which also goes by the name Heythrop Zoological Gardens)," Freedom for Animals says. "A few months later, information was received that the same big cats...were due to be shipped to Japan to join the Kinoshita Circus later in that year."

The spokesperson for the park told Newsweek, "Animal safety and welfare is our highest priority, and, as a responsible organization and member of BIAZA (The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums), we strictly adhere to industry standards, including animal transfer policies. The animals we care for are relocated for a variety of reasons, including conservation breeding programs."

Users on TikTok reacted strongly to Burke's video.

"Just why [they] say don't feed giraffes and don't feed inside car," said one user.

"Screaming because this happened to ussssss. I had to park up afterwards before heading home," said another.

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