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Drive-through wildlife center where giraffe grabbed toddler is changing their rules after viral incident
Video of a giraffe grabbing a toddler from the back of a pickup truck at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas went viral this week, and now the park is making changes to its rules to prevent incidents like this.
Jason Toten said his 2-year-old, Paisley, was in the back of his pickup with her mom feeding the animals along the drive-thru wildlife park. When they stopped to feed a giraffe, the animal grabbed Paisley by her shirt and lifted her feet in the air, before dropping her back down.
“My heart stopped, my stomach dropped … it scared me,” Toten said.
The people in the car behind them caught the scary moment on video. CBS News has also recently obtained video from Toten’s wife, who caught the incident from her point of view.
Toten said it was just an accident – the giraffe was grabbing for food and accidentally latched on to his daughter. He also said they followed all park rules, which include keeping car doors closed, feeding animals with cups — not your hands — and keeping 50 feet away from gates.
The park, however, said they are changing their rules, effective immediately.
“We were recently made aware of an incident involving one of our giraffes that occurred this past weekend,” a representative for Fossil Rim told CBS News via email. “The incident was first reported to us on Monday June 3rd. The safety of our guests and animals is always of utmost importance to us.”
The park has never experienced anything like this previously, and they want to ensure it doesn’t happen again. “Effective immediately Fossil Rim will no longer be allowing guests to ride through the park in truck beds,” the representative said. “Fossil Rim offers a variety of experiences guided by knowledgeable staff so guests can continue to have up-close and memorable animal encounters, and support our mission to save threatened and endangered species.”
The incident didn’t deter the family — Toten said they’d visit again. And Paisley got a stuffed giraffe from the souvenir shop after the rough ride.
There were no injuries after a Southwest flight carrying passengers was struck by gunfire on the tarmac of Dallas Love Field Friday night, authorities said.
Southwest Airlines Flight 2494 was preparing for departure to Indianapolis when “a bullet apparently struck the right side of the aircraft under the flight deck,” a Southwest spokesperson told CBS News in a statement.
The airline said no one was hurt. A spokesperson for Dallas Love Field said in an email that the aircraft returned to its gate after sustaining damage from a “security incident” and the passengers deplaned. The runway was also temporarily closed, but has since reopened.
Dallas police confirmed the incident, saying that officers responded to reports of gunfire at 9:48 p.m. local time, arriving to find that the aircraft had been struck.
No further details were provided on the circumstances of the incident or what was the potential source of the gunfire. It’s unclear how many people were aboard the jet at the time, or how much damage the aircraft sustained.
In its own statement provided to CBS News, the Federal Aviation Administration said that the plane “was reportedly struck by gunfire near the cockpit.”
Dallas police are leading the investigation into the incident.
Earlier this week, gunfire amid ongoing gang violence struck three planes that were either landing or departing Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. The shootings prompted the FAA to issue a 30-day ban on U.S. airlines flying to Haiti.
Social media star Jake Paul defeated boxing legend Mike Tyson in a highly anticipated fight with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders. The Friday night win for the YouTuber-turned-pro-boxer was streamed on Netflix from the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
Paul defeated Tyson by an unanimous decision after the two fighters went eight full rounds.
Fight night for the 58-year-old Tyson and 27-year-old Paul came following doubts over whether it would happen at all. The fight was originally scheduled for July, but was postponed after the former heavyweight champion experienced an ulcer flare-up on a plane in May.
A different kind of flare-up happened during the official weigh-in Thursday with Tyson slapping Paul in the face. Tyson later told the New York Post that Paul had stepped on his toe when the two were toe to toe onstage.
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What is Jake Paul’s fight record?
With the win, Paul’s record improved to 11-1.
Was Jake Paul predicted to win?
Oddsmakers had Paul as the slight favorite to win. Former heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua also went with Paul.
How much prize money does Jake Paul win?
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, according to DraftKings Network and other online sources.
Promoters didn’t reveal the payouts ahead of the bout. Paul is a co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, which produced the fight.
Does Mike Tyson still get paid?
Tyson was expected to take home around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
Tyson entered professional boxing in 1985 and became the youngest heavyweight champion in history a year later. After serving time for a rape conviction in the 1990s, Tyson won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles.
He retired from boxing in 2005 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“He like put on another 20 pounds from when I fought him, so he’s more bigger and he’s more dangerous because more size, more power, so it’s going to be a tough one for Jake to climb,” Jones told CBS News ahead of the fight.
Anne Marie Lee and
contributed to this report.
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