A one-year-old girl has died and her mum left fighting for her life after they were trampled by a giraffe.
The mother, 25, and baby had been visiting a safari park near Durban, South Africa on Wednesday afternoon when they were set upon by the towering mammal.
Police spokeswoman Nqobile Gwala told AFP that a 25-year-old mother and her 16-month-old daughter were attacked at around 2pm GMT in Kuleni Game Park.
She said the girl was taken to a nearby doctor's practice before she passed away, while the mother remained in a critical condition after being rushed to hospital.
Police have since launched an investigation into the baby's death.
Giraffe attacks on humans are rare, with the plant-eating animal only usually turning violent when it feels threatened.
Back in 2018, a British scientist's three-year-old son needed life-saving brain surgery after he and his wildlife biologist mother Dr Katy Williams, 35, were attacked by a giraffe in a wildlife reserve.
The youngster spent 13 days in a medically induced coma as both were treated for "life-changing" injuries at a hospital in South Africa.
Over the last 30 years, the numbers of giraffes in the wild has plummeted by 40 percent.
Hunting, trading in their body parts and the loss of their natural habitat has led to the decline of the African giraffe population, with the Nubian giraffe falling by a staggering 97 percent.
They are classed as 'threatened' under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
