By IANS,
London: A 24-year-old woman safari tourist was seriously injured by a rhino in South Africa after she was reportedly urged to stand closer to the animal by a wildlife expert, a British daily said.
The Daily Mail said Chantal Beyer was visiting the Aloe Ridge Hotel and Nature Reserve in South Africa with her boyfriend when they stopped to look at some rhinos.
Afrikaans-language newspaper the Beeld reported that guide Alex Richter then advised them to stand a little closer.
He allegedly told the group of visitors to get out of their vehicle to take photos and even encourage the rhinos to come closer with food.
A rhio gored the woman from behind, the daily said.
A photograph showed the couple only a few feet away from two white rhinos that weigh up to two tonnes and stand as tall as two metres.
Just after the picture was taken, a huge bull rhino attacked, and its horn penetrated Beyers’ chest from behind, resulting in a collapsed lung and broken ribs.
Beyer, a bachelor of commerce student from Johannesburg, is now in intensive care at a Krugersdorp hospital where she is said to be in stable condition.
The nature reserve, where the incident took place, declined to comment to the Daily Mail.