A giraffe in South Africa died when his head smashed a highway overpass while being transported in a wide-open container.
In a scene eerily similar to one from “Hangover 3,” the exotic animal was traveling down Pretoria’s N1 highway on Thursday when his dim-witted driver drove under a bridge, sending the giraffe’s head directly into the overpass, Johannesburg’s Eye Witness News reports.
“All we can ascertain at this stage is severe head trauma,” the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Rick Allan said Thursday.
“We are continuing our investigation with the view to possibly lay criminal charges against those responsible.”
Witnesses spotted the giraffe early Thursday with a long-necked companion cruising down the South African highway with their heads high above the top of the open-air shipping container.
Many of the drivers on the highway even managed to snap a few pictures of the doomed giraffe as it sped down the road.
“Took this pic on the N1 earlier. Just heard one Giraffe passed away! Apparently due to head trauma! So sad!” a Twitter user said on Thursday.
https://twitter.com/wingaterunners/status/494850674073808896/
“Look how low that bridge is and how tall the giraffes are. Who thought this one through? I wish I hadn’t seen this,” another tweeted.
https://twitter.com/PabiMoloi/status/494854036760580096/
South African TV and radio presenter Pabi Moloi was driving with his cousin on the busy highway when they came face to face with the giraffe’s horrifying demise.
“As I was getting shots, the truck went under a bridge and suddenly one of the giraffes hit its head hard on the concrete,” he said.
“The sound was so loud that my cousin, who was driving, asked me if there was someone shooting because she thought she’d heard a gunshot!”
The media personality added that the sound of the collision is something that may stick with him forever.
“That sound of a skull being hit and the force with which it threw the giraffe’s head forward is something I won’t easily forget.”
As the story made its way around social media, people couldn’t keep themselves from pointing out its shocking resemblance to the infamous “Hangover 3” scene in which Zach Galifianakis’ character, Alan, decapitated his brand new giraffe on a highway overpass.
“Didn’t this happen in Hangover 3? How is this real life?” a user tweeted.