White rhino shot and killed after it escaped - just a day after arriving at ... trends now
A 2,000-pound white rhinoceros has been shot and killed at a Florida safari park after it 'aggressively' escaped from its enclosure - staff claiming it could have 'killed other animals.'
Bodycam footage in the moments after the shooting shows Wild Florida Drive-Thru Safari Park general manager Jordan Munns explaining that the behavior of the rhino indicated it was going to cause harm to other animals, forcing staff to stop it.
'The way he was acting inside the pen, he was going to burn through a couple animals, kill them, and then get out, and there was no chance we're going have that,' he said.
The three-year-old mammal was killed in September last year, a day before it was brought to the park for its scheduled debut of their new rhino exhibit.
Staff deployed 15 rounds, using three different calibers, before the colossal beast dropped dead, then dug a huge hole to bury it in.
A 2,000-pound white rhinoceros calf has been shot and killed at a Florida safari park after it 'aggressively' escaped from its enclosure - staff claiming it could have 'killed other animals'
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Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said in a report obtained by News 6 that they'd received an anonymous tip about the shooting which launched a probe into the incident.
Munns said the next morning, he and other staff members watched as the animal worked to escape from its secondary enclosure, once free, running into a grove of cypress trees inside the park.
'We were so close to catching him that we didn't want to shoot him right on the spot, but I said if four feet touch the ground on the other side of this wire, he's done,' Munns was heard telling investigators.
'We came up flying up here, he was still maybe 10 or 12 trees in, and we started shooting.'
Munns said that staff used 'the biggest guns' they had and that they had 'three guns going at one time.'
While the calf had been only three, it took about 15 rounds and three different calibers to finally kill the rare animal.
'Out of fear that a helicopter might spot the rhino, they dug a hole, placed the rhino in it and covered it most of the way, leaving a portion of the head exposed for us to observe upon our arrival,' FWC investigators wrote.
'We did everything we could to not have to kill this animal,' Munns was heard telling investigators.
'[But] that's what it came down to.'
There are currently only 18,000 white rhinos in existence, according to the World Wildlife Federation and they're considered 'near threatened' and the only rhino species not classified as 'endangered.'
Bodycam footage in the moment after the shooting shows Wild Florida Drive-Thru Safari Park general manager Jordan Munns explaining that the behavior of the rhino indicated it was going to cause harm to other animals, forcing staff to stop it
Staff deployed 15 rounds, using three different calibers, before the colossal beast dropped dead, then dug a huge hole to bury it in
In comments of a Facebook post made by Wild Florida, most users appeared to be understanding of the decision but some were disgusted given how close the animal is to extinction.
One user said: 'This is an
