A Mexican tourist’s attempt to photograph a deer in Moni, off Aegina, ended painfully after the animal rammed him and broke his ribs, as seen in a wince-worthy video blowing up online.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Gian Carlo Triacca, the 42-year-old tourist, told Caters News Service of the attack, which occurred while he and his wife, Erika, 40 were vacationing in Greece.
“I was taking a picture of a small deer that was stood in front of me, when suddenly a big male deer attacked me in the back," he added.
The couple, who hail from Cancun had reportedly been entranced by a menagerie of beasts where they were.
Accompanying footage shows Gian Carlo and Erica getting approached a la peacocks, deer and other seemingly tame, enchanted animals.
See the video:
“I was in so much shock and pain after it happened,” recalled Triacca, who claimed that he sustained several broken ribs in the attack.
Despite being in a “huge amount of pain for several days,” Triacca claimed he was lucky his injuries “weren’t worse.”
“I didn’t go to the hospital, I just recovered by myself with lots of medication and ice,” the Mexico resident recounted.
The exact whereabouts of the attack were not specified; however, the island Moni is known for being a sanctuary of surprisingly docile deer, Cretan ibexes, and other wildlife, which are the local’s only permanent residents.
Tourists often flock to idyllic isles from all over the world to see and even feed the beasts.
In general, animal advocates advise people to keep their distance when viewing wild animals.
“The best way to stay safe when watching wildlife is to give animals room to move,” the Humane Society of the United States writes. “Many parks require you to stay a minimum distance of 25 yards from most wildlife and 100 yards from predators like bears and wolves.”
READ MORE: Lonely Planet: Ikaria in the top 50 destinations worldwide for 2024.
