Friday, May 3, 2024
Every year, Granbury resident Kari Hill and her family visit Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose for their annual family trip.
But Hill was not prepared for the scary encounter she faced with a giraffe this week — something she has never experienced before in any of her other trips to the wildlife center.
On Thursday, Oct. 12, around 12:15 p.m., Hill was driving through the self-guided tour at Fossil Rim with her teenaged sons and 1-year-old granddaughter, when they decided to park by the giraffes to try to feed them.
Hill told the HCN in a Facebook message that one of the giraffes had come up to their car and stuck its head through the sunroof.
"All was great until he lost his balance and fell onto my windshield, and it started caving in while he was flailing trying to get his footing back,” she said. “We were covered in glass, and I thought it was about to turn very bad, but then the giraffe regained his footing and took off.”
Hill explained the family then pulled off the main road, and she made sure to clear off any glass that had fallen on the children.
"I put everyone in the backseat while I called the parks emergency hotline to escort us out of there,” she said. “My car had to be towed and I had to file an insurance claim.”
Warren Lewis, chief marketing officer of the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, confirmed to the HCN the giraffe had stumbled and broken a car’s windshield when it fell. He said the family and giraffe are both fine.
“It’s an unfortunate situation and is the first time this has happened in the 11 years I’ve been here,” he said in an email to the HCN. “We do have guided tours our guests can take that allow them to visit the park without having to drive their own vehicle.”
Lewis explained that guests have to agree to a statement before tickets to the center can be purchased. The statement reads: Fossil Rim Wildlife Center assumes no liability for damages to vehicles, people, or property as a result of any interactions with the animals and facilities.
“I realize it was a freak accident,” Hill added. “I’m just happy no one was hurt, and the giraffe is OK.”
