The trip of a lifetime to celebrate a Scottish woman's 60th birthday turned brutal when two supposedly tame cheetahs attacked the woman at a game reserve in South Africa.
Violet D'Mello and her husband Archie were allowed to get up close and pet two brother cheetahs, Mark and Monty, at the Kragga Kamma Game Park in Port Elizabeth last weekend.
"They seemed to be pretty docile. They said they were hand reared from cubs and were extremely tame and one could you know stroke them and not only that lay on them and they'll do nothing to you," Archie D'Mello said.
The couple had just taken photos with the animals and were still in the petting area when one of the cats grabbed an 8-year-old girl by the leg.
Violet D'Mello tried to stop the attack. After the girl ran for safety, D'Mello said both cheetahs turned on her in a savage attack that lasted for more than three minutes.
Incredibly, Archie D'Mello kept taking pictures, documenting the horrific scene as the animals bit and scratched his wife's head, legs and stomach.
Violet D'Mello said her instinct took over while a guide tried to pull the cats off of her.
"Something inside me just said, 'Don't move. Don't move at all. Don't react, just play dead'," she told the Port Elizabeth Herald. Miraculously, Violet D'Mello walked away with no life-threatening wounds. The 60-year-old lost a lot of blood during the attack and has a lot of stitches on both her thighs and her scalp, her husband said. Park manager Mike Cantor told the newspaper the park had never had any problems with the previously beloved cheetahs. "It's not something we've ever really experienced. It's obviously very unfortunate, and we're looking into what may have startled or riled up the cheetahs," Cantor said. The petting facility is closed to the public while the park investigates the attack.

And this is why you don't pet giant cats. Animals like this are never truly tamed, they may act docile but they are not tame. Kudos to the lady though for saving the kid.

Am I a terrible person for laughing at this? Especially so when I read that the cat grabbed an eight year old?

Just curious... we make it a huge freaking deal when an animal attacks somebody (even if they dont kill) but humans kill each more so and 98% of the time it doesnt even reach the news.... these guys go.to prison for a few years and live with other humans. However, most animals that have attacked somebody are immediately put down. When i think of this... all I think aboutnis WTF!?

>>4 I wish death upon anyone that tries to kill me, whether it be animal, human, or god. Even if I have to use my bare hands.

To fend off a large predator, the first thing you should do is shove you fist as far down it's throat as you can. It sounds stupid, but this triggers a gag reflex, which should give you enough time to escape. If you can't do that, then bit it's nose as hard as you possible can. The nose is the most tender spt on most predators, and will possibly dissuade the animal.

>>3 No, you're not terrible. I kept smacking my head reading this...
I mean really now, they expected some cheetahs to always be like "well hurr durr we're just big dumb cats" and not "oh shit..we're predators, and that's a small child. Let's get her"

I think this is fits

>>8 XD

hehe.

Not gonna lie; it's probably the kids fault. Either the kid was antagonizing it or playing with it wrong. Kids tend to do that; household dogs are known to snap at them more than adults because children don't play with them right because they just don't know better. On the other hand, it's the adults' jobs to tell the kids these things. There's also the possibility that the child was wearing something droopy or of a particular color that the animals were instinctively attracted to. That would be the reserve's fault for letting the kid get near them with it, as whose fault it would be for letting the kid play with/pet it wrong.

Then again, the animals may have wanted to play with the child. "Lashing out" at a child's leg doesn't sound like an attack; as was in the later attack, they would have gone right for the head, particularly in such a shorter human. Animals play differently than humans. Playing with a cheetah can and will kill you, as has happened time and time again. When the woman intervened, they were probably startled and took it as an attack.

Well, we can assume all we want, but they'll release whatever report does the least damage to their reputation. It's great the woman tried to help; I hope it doesn't scar too bad.

im at school and my head hurts like crazy