Woman mauled by cheetahs in South African game park ( Tame : LOL )

Indo Asian News Service ^ | May 04, 2012

[george76]

A woman tourist from Britain in a South African game park was mauled by two cheetahs in a horrific attack.

Violet D'Mello was petting the "tame" cats in the petting area of Kragga Kamma Game Park with other tourists when they began attacking an eight-year-old girl. The woman watched in horror as they clawed and bit her leg ...

Suddenly, the cheetahs left the girl and began eyeing the little girl's seven-year-old brother who was trying to flee. Just as D'Mello tried to intervene, the two animals turned their attention to her.

[Fiji Hill]

Cats on the other hand have been breeding humans for thousands of years to make us more compliant to their needs.

A cat once watched in horror as a man issued a dog a series of commands--sit, heel, roll over, etc.--and the dog dutifully complied. The cat thought, "that poor dog will never make it as a cat."

[Nickname]

She may have saved the little boy’s life. God bless her for intervening.

[Carriage Hill]

“Dogs have masters; Cats have staff.” LOL.

[heartwood]

Her husband Archibald was outside the pen during her ordeal – and took these dramatic photos as the attack unfolded

Way to go, Archie.

Many nights of sleeping on the couch and burnt cold dinners for you.

[Ellendra]

I’ve seen big cats react like that at the zoo, but fortunately they were behind bars and glass. They look so bored most of the time, even lethargic. Then a toddler walks by, and suddenly every cat’s eyes are locked on that child. I watched a lion practically beat it’s own head in trying to pounce through the safety glass once.

Little kids give off very strong “prey” vibes.

[JimSEA]

Had I done that to my wife, I would not be commenting just now, due to my recent, violent death.

[knittnmom]

While it was definitely dumb to be petting wild cats, have to give her kudos for intervening to save the kids, and the other tourists (except her husband!!) for helping to save her life.

[Repeat Offender]

I can hear her husband now, during the attack.. “Oh yes, honey.. Hold it right there.. No? Darn! Wait, that’s it, yeah yeah.. Get her get her! Oh this is rich.. Click click.. Click *(chuckle)* click click click”

I bet this will be the last "one with nature" vacation I'm forced to take with her........see even this big #ssed cat needs more to eat than tofu. Oh well, she said she wanted to rember every minute *click*

[Flycatcher]

“The other lady (Violet) went in to assist and the cheetahs probably thought it was a play time.

Yeah.

I sometimes "play" with my food too. Ha ha!

Thanks for the ping, George. Glad to be home for a couple of days. No big cats for me on this tour in the mountains. But I was serenaded by a western screech-owl for much of the night at 5800 feet in pinyon pine/juniper forest. Beats listening to noisy neighbors.

[avenir]

Nobody in here but us cheetahs...

[the OlLine Rebel]

In truth this woman was being a hero. She tried to step in to save a girl and boy who were being attacked.

Dumb? Yes, petting zoos (of wild animals - the true sense of the word) are, but give her a break - she wasn’t even being attacked until she broke into what the real fuss was.

What happened to the girl? No word on that.

[The KG9 Kid]

Not that it reflects poorly on the UK as a whole, I think that if past incidents were examined it would show that the vast majority of tourists being mauled by the wildlife in Africa were British citizens thinking that the adorable animals wouldn't harm a fly.

They must think that life is like the artwork on the back of some Jehovah's Witness 'Watchtower' tract showing the paradise of the afterlife where little girls are petting African lions and riding on the backs of polar bears, or leaving infants in the care of friendly giant boa constrictors, and so on... Like they're proving a point to everyone looking on that they're not 'Speciesist' and it wouldn't be politically correct to presume that a wild animal is necessarily wildly dangerous.

Anyway, my point is that incidents like these always seem to involve Brits on vacation. I welcome anyone to prove me wrong, statistically.

[aomagrat]

Who the hell has cheetahs in a petting zoo? That makes about as much sense as putting a day care next to a dingo farm.

[DPMD]

So much for the myth that “Cheetahs never win.”

[fieldmarshaldj]