British tourist mauled by 'tame' cheetahs

Source: nypost.com - 

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa -- Two excited, supposedly tame cheetahs mauled a Scottish tourist in a petting area at a South Africa game park, forcing her to play dead and turning her holiday into a "nightmare."

The Port Elizabeth Herald reported the incident at the Kragga Kamma Game Park began last Saturday when Violet D'Mello, who had just posed for a picture with the hand-reared cheetahs named Mark and Monty, tried to protect a seven-year-old boy.

According to D'Mello, who was with her husband, Archibald, one of the animals first grabbed the leg of a visiting eight-year-old girl, leaving her with cuts and abrasions.

When she was free, it appeared to run after her seven-year-old brother.

"They weren't being vicious," D'Mello, from Aberdeen, told the paper. "You could tell they [the cheetahs] were just excited, but it became serious very quickly."

As she tried to protect the boy, "something jumped me from behind."

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