Baby girl is trampled to death by a GIRAFFE

A toddler was horribly crushed and her mother was seriously injured when a giraffe, thinking it was protecting its calf, attacked them in a safari park.

The tragic mother, 25, and her 16-month-old daughter stayed with their father at Kuleni Game Farm, 170 miles northeast of Durban, famous for its nature trails.

Home to giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, impala, nyala and predator-free divers, the park promises a ‘safe environment’ for guests in the £150-per-night lodges.

The tragedy is being investigated by South African police and animal experts to find out exactly what happened when the mother and daughter were attacked without warning.

Giraffes use their legs and neck with two potentially deadly ossicones on top of their heads — horns, basically — to attack which they can use as powerful whiplash weapons.

After the giraffe was driven off, the seriously injured mother and daughter were rushed to a doctor, but nothing could be done to save the toddler who died during his surgery.

The young mother was transferred to the intensive care unit to the hospital where she is fighting for her life and the 14-lodge game farm did not comment to the media.

Police spokesman Lt Col Nqobile Gwala said: ‘The 25-year-old mother and her 16-month-old child were at Kuleni Game Farm in Hluhluwe when they were trampled by a giraffe.

“The child was taken to the nearest doctor’s room where she died and the mother was rushed to hospital for medical attention and is said to be in critical condition.

“The circumstances surrounding the attack are still under investigation,” she said.

Obviously the mother and daughter were not tourists to the nature reserve but were a local family staying at the lodge with their father who worked in the area.

The tragedy is being investigated by South African police and animal experts to discover exactly what happened when the mother and daughter were attacked without warning (file image of giraffes)

In 2018, British scientist Dr. Katy Williams, 36, and her son Finn, 3, were both attacked by a female giraffe protecting her calf and left seriously injured in South Africa.

Only the intervention of her husband Dr. Sam Williams, 36, who was jogging in the nature park where they lived and worked, saved them from death.

After courageously driving the protective giraffe away, he called 911 and both were flown in from the Blyde Willdlife Estate in Hoedspruit in Limpopo province.

They were both in a coma for a month and it was feared Finn would suffer brain damage from the serious head injury, but both made a long but remarkable and full recovery.

In 2018, British scientist Dr. Katy Williams, 36, and her son Finn, 3, were both attacked by a female giraffe protecting her calf and left seriously injured in South Africa. Pictured Katy, Finn and Sam Williams

Only the intervention of her husband Dr. Sam Williams, 36, who was jogging in the nature park where they lived and worked, saved them from death. After courageously driving the protective giraffe away, he called 911 and both were flown in from the Blyde Willdlife Estate in Hoedspruit in Limpopo province. In the photo: the family

Sam, now 40, was jogging at the nature park where both naturalists live and work and came across the horrific attack just a few hundred yards from home.

A few months earlier, a wildlife cameraman working on the TV show Wild at Heart was attacked and killed by an agitated giraffe when it lashed out at him with its long neck.

South African Carlo Carvalho, 47, was knocked 16 feet through the air at the Glen Africa game park in Broederstroom, Northwest Province, where the series was filmed.

He was rushed to hospital but died of serious head injuries.

In 2019, Swiss tourist Roland Koller was killed by a giraffe in Kruger National Park when a speeding minibus hit the young female and threw it into the air.