MELBOURNE, Fla. (WESH/NBC) – A 2-year-old child fell into a rhinoceros enclosure at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida Tuesday and was airlifted to a hospital.
Zoo officials say the child’s mother hurt her arm while pulling the child out of the enclosure and was also taken to a hospital.
The zoo’s director says it happened while the parents and child were attending what they call a “rhino encounter,” during which visitors can reach between heavy steel bars and brush the rhinos with long brushes.
He says the child fell out of the father’s arms into the enclosure, where a rhino turned and made contact with the child using its snout, but not its horn.
That’s when the mother quickly pulled the child back through the bars.
The child was airlifted to a hospital with possible head injuries but the extent of the injuries is not clear.
The zoo has suspended the “rhino encounter” until measures can be taken to prevent this from happening again.
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