Angry rhino flips car at German safari park in frightening footage

Terrifying footage shows the moment an angry rhino repeatedly rams and flips a keeper’s car at a safari park.

The attack took place at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen in northern Germany and saw the 30-year-old bull, named Kusini, slamming his horn into the body of the car.

A staff member trapped inside the car throughout the incident, filmed by a visitor to the park, miraculously emerged having sustained only a few bruises.

The vehicle, in contrast, was severely damaged.

Multiple windows can be seen visibly smashed out, while the roof has partially caved in and the trunk has popped open.

Park manager Fabrizio Sepe said it was unclear what had led to Kusini becoming so enraged.

He added that the animal had only been living in the park for 18 months and was still acclimatizing to his surroundings.

He also explained that Kusini was only allowed to roam the park in the mornings and evenings, after visitors have left, and that he didn’t present any risk to the public.

He did admit, however, that the rhino could be better off in a zoo environment.

Rhino numbers low

Rhino numbers remain historically low, and Kusini was brought to the park for breeding purposes.

Efforts to conserve the animal have had some success in recent years, with some species being reclassified from Endangered to Vulnerable, but poaching for the ivory in rhinos’ horns continues, and numerous species have now been declared extinct.

At the start of the 20th century, 500,000 rhinos roamed the continents of Africa and Asia, but today very few survive outside national parks and reserves.

As well as poaching, habitat loss has been a major contributor to the decline in numbers.

Only two members of the northern white rhino species are now known to exist, and both are kept under 24-hour guard.

Both individuals are females, making the species functionally extinct, barring the existence of an unknown male elsewhere in Africa.

Ivory harvested from killed rhinos and elephants is used to manufacture expensive jewelry and ornaments as well as alternative and traditional medicines.

Many countries, including China, formerly one of the ivory trade’s biggest market, have introduced total bans on trade in ivory and ivory products, but a black market for the products worth millions of dollars a year still exists.