Giraffe Kills South African Film Director

Giraffes aren't exactly South Africa's deadliest creature, but they can still be extremely dangerous: A South African film director is dead after what film agency CallaCrew describes as a "fatal run-in with a giraffe on set." Carlos Carvalho, 47, was filming close-ups of the bull giraffe at a wildlife facility when it swung its neck and hit him with its head, sending him flying through the air, Variety reports. The award-winning director, who'd been filming scenes for the movie Premium Nanny 2, suffered serious head injuries and died after being flown to a hospital in Johannesburg.

Film crew member Drikus van Der Merwe tells the Telegraph that the giraffe had been chasing the unit's boom swinger, but "we didn't feel threatened because he just seemed to be inquisitive." He says Carvalho wasn't aware of the danger and didn't see the attack coming. The Glen Afric safari lodge says Carvalho didn't have permission to film Gerald the giraffe and had been warned not to approach the animal. "Gerald was not to blame and [will] not be put down," says lodge spokesman Richard Brooker, per the Sun. "We are not going to shoot Gerald. He was not in the wrong." (The owner of another wildlife park is recovering from being mauled by a lion that he bottle-fed when it was a cub.)