A family New Year's Day trip to a Florida zoo turned terrifying when a two-year-old girl toppled into a rhinoceros exhibit. A witness posting this picture of a white shoe. The Brevard Zoo in Melbourne says during the hands-on educational experience with rhinos, children three years of age and older are led by a zookeeper and able to touch the four thousand-pound animals, separated by a series of steel poles. While the father was kneeling down holding the child, corner the witnesses, the child stumbled backwards fell between the bars.
The father and the mother immediately reacted and brought the child out, but at least one, if not two, of the Rhinos we think made contact with their snout. The toddler airlifted to an area hospital, the mother also treated for a non critical injury to her arm. The incident similar to a 2016 accident at the Cincinnati Zoo, when a three year old boy fell into a gorilla enclosure and was tossed about by one of the animals who was later killed. The rhino exhibit remains closed, pending investigation. The zoo says until they've thoroughly reviewed our processes and procedures to ensure this cannot happen again.