Durban – There have been two incidents in KwaZulu-Natal this week where animals have attacked humans.
In the most recent case, a woman on the KZN north coast was rushed to hospital after a hippo charged at her.
Here are five times when animals have attacked humans, recently.
On Wednesday, a woman was critically injured after a hippo attacked her. The woman was on holiday with her family in the St Lucia area.
She and her two children were on their way back to their accommodation when they passed a hippo and its baby.
Shawn Herbst of Netcare 911, said in a bid to protect its young, the hippo charged at the woman.
"She was found in a critical condition and had to be airlifted to hospital. The two children were unharmed," Herbst said.
A 16-month old toddler died after she was trampled by a giraffe at the Kuhleni Farm in Hluhluwe in northern KZN.
Police said the child's mother sustained critical injuries. She remains in hospital. Herbst said the mother was airlifted by the Netcare 911 Helicopter Air Ambulance to a specialist facility. Hluhluwe SAPS are investigating further.
A 39-year-old Cape mom was killed by a shark in Plettenberg Bay in September. This was the second fatal shark attack to occur in Plettenberg Bay within three months.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was swimming to Central Beach from Beacon Ilse Hotel Beach when she was attacked in shallow waters.
NSRI Plettenberg Bay was then activated and assisted the husband to recover the body of the deceased from the water.
LEOPARD
In July, a Mpumalanga man was attacked by a leopard. Ndumiso Motha told TimesLive that he was one of four people attacked by the large cat. He was bitten on the nose and suffered a swollen eye and scratches on his face and hands. He said the leopard was killed by residents.
A woman was killed following a hippo attack at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in June.
The 59-year-old woman and two others had been harvesting incema or African grass mat at the part when they were attacked.
The woman succumbed to her wounds while her two accomplices fled the area.
According to authorities, the trio had been harvesting without permission as a meeting had been held to explain why harvesting could not take place in the area at the time.
Netcare said animals, wild animals in particular, act on instinct and can be unpredictable by nature. The group's Mande Toubkin said it is imperative that people understand that wild animals can be potentially aggressive and even dangerous.
Toubkin urged people, both South Africans and visitors to the country to be careful when they encounter a wild animal no matter the size or context. She added that the same can be applied to unfamiliar apparently domesticated animals.
IOL