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If you go on a journey, have a car accident and receive a neck injury, you’d get straight on the phone to your personal injury solicitor and make a whiplash injury compensation claim, wouldn’t you.
But what would you do, if the whiplash injury had been suffered by your new pet giraffe – now there’s a thought.
In November 2009 staff at Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their two new female giraffes, but when five-year-old Amali trotted off the trailer, zoo experts could see an obvious problem.
Their new giraffe had a bad case of whiplash.
"Right away we noticed that there was a misalignment, that she had a crick in her neck," said Terrie Correll, Tulsa Zoo Director.
"We know it somehow happened in transport. We don't know what happened. The transport driver reported no incidents to how the animal injured itself. So, no, we don't know," said Dr Kay Backues, Tulsa Zoo veterinarian.
The poor animal had a distinct kink in its neck which apparently happened during transit, however animal specialists said the giraffe appeared to be walking, feeding and interacting with other animals completely normally and without hindrance.
It was likely Amali would have to have an x-ray to determine what the problem was with the vertebrae in her neck, but she didn’t appear to be in pain.
Due to the excessively long neck of a giraffe any sudden hyperflexion or hyperextension, as experienced in most cases of human whiplash injury, could prove dangerous, however, many wildlife documentaries have captured on film the mating and fighting habits of the species and prove that their necks are very tough and flexible. One would wonder therefore if a whiplash
injury diagnosis is correct.
All in all it’s a mystery, for the giraffe and for Tulsa zoo, but for you, if you have suffered in a car accident or any type of non-fault incident where you have received neck injury, your best course of action is to seek the assistance of a reputable no win, no fee lawyer who will be able to make a whiplash injury claim on your behalf and win you damages for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and medical expenses.
Meanwhile, the giraffe with whiplash could bring all sorts of ‘compensation’ to the zoo as it is likely the animal will draw crowds from miles around, all who will want to pay to see the giraffe with the bent neck.
