Onlooker captures scary video of hiker facing consequences after approaching giraffe: 'Hard to feel sorry for people who don't use common sense'

A recent Facebook video has people talking (and shaking their heads) after a hiker decided to walk up to a wild giraffe. Spoiler: it didn't go well.

The clip shared by The Weather Channel was filmed in what looks like a wildlife park, and it shows how the woman walks toward the giraffe, clearly ignoring the safe distance people are supposed to keep around wild animals.

The giraffe doesn't hesitate and quickly swings its neck to knock her to the ground in one powerful motion. She gets up right away and walks off, but the video ends on a pretty uncomfortable note.

Sure, she walked away, but that's not the point: Getting too close to wild animals can be seriously dangerous not only for people, but also for the animals.

When a wild animal reacts like this (even if it's out of fear or instinct), there's a chance officials could label the animal a threat and have it removed or even euthanized. So this means that one bad decision by a human could cost an animal its life.

In this case, the giraffe was only reacting to what it likely saw as a threat. But that doesn't always matter when it comes to policy.

The worst part is that this kind of thing happens more than you'd think. People do a lot of unsafe things just to get a nice video with a marmot or a selfie with a bison (yes, really). But wild animals aren't pets, and they definitely don't want to be part of your TikTok post or your vacation photo.

Commenters on the video didn't hold back.

One person wrote, "Leave wildlife alone! It's not that hard, people."

Another added, "She's pretty lucky that's all that happened."

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And honestly? They're right. It's not that hard to avoid this situation, and it definitely could have gone much worse.

"These are wild animals!" said a third. "Hard to feel sorry for people who don't use common sense decisions."

At the end of the day, it's simple: Keep a safe distance and don't turn a once-in-a-lifetime trip into a viral video for all the wrong reasons.

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