Woman survives cheetah attack by playing dead
Violet D'Mello of Aberdeen, Scotland is attacked by cheetahs while being photographed by her husband Archibald,
during a visit to Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, South Africa during a visit to the country.
The couple visited the enclosure in which the hand-reared cheetah brothers, Mark and Monty, were kept when the attack took place.
Other tourists tried to scare the beasts off as park attendants desperately fought to get them away from the injured woman.
And her husband? He carried on taking photographs, saying he did not quite realise what was happening.
The attack took place at a wildlife park where tourists can pay £4.50 to pet cheetah brothers Mark and Monty, both hand-reared and said to be tame.
Inside the private Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, Mrs D’Mello posed for a picture with a cheetah, stroking its head and describing it as ‘a beautiful animal that felt so soft’.
However, things changed quickly when one of the beasts grabbed eight-year-old Camryn Malan, who was among other tourists in the enclosure, and began biting her leg.
Mrs D’Mello comforted the girl’s seven-year-old brother, Calum, telling him not to run so he would not aggravate the animals – but as she did so, the cheetahs turned on her.
The mother of two said: ‘I never imagined it would attack me because I was an adult. But the next thing I knew I was on the floor and the cheetah was right on top of me.
‘It started scratching me really badly and then I could feel the other one come up too and one of them got my neck in its mouth.
‘I was just screaming and trying to get my hands up around my neck to protect myself, but I was being bitten all over my legs and down my side near my kidneys.
‘People all around were screaming, and I had no idea how I would escape. Something inside me just said, “Don’t move. Don’t move at all. Don’t react, just play dead”.
‘Eventually someone came and chased them off me and my husband picked me up off the floor.’
The housewife, from Aberdeen, was bleeding heavily from cuts to her legs, head and stomach, and needed stitches in hospital.
She said: ‘The doctor at the hospital said cheetahs usually aim for the stomach area and disembowel their victims, so I was lucky to be alive.’
Mr D’Mello, 64, a helicopter pilot who booked the month-long trip as a birthday gift for his wife, said he kept taking photos until he realised the cheetahs were biting her.
Aricle DailyMail UK
during a visit to Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, South Africa during a visit to the country.
The couple visited the enclosure in which the hand-reared cheetah brothers, Mark and Monty, were kept when the attack took place.
Other tourists tried to scare the beasts off as park attendants desperately fought to get them away from the injured woman.
And her husband? He carried on taking photographs, saying he did not quite realise what was happening.
The attack took place at a wildlife park where tourists can pay £4.50 to pet cheetah brothers Mark and Monty, both hand-reared and said to be tame.
Inside the private Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth, Mrs D’Mello posed for a picture with a cheetah, stroking its head and describing it as ‘a beautiful animal that felt so soft’.
However, things changed quickly when one of the beasts grabbed eight-year-old Camryn Malan, who was among other tourists in the enclosure, and began biting her leg.
Mrs D’Mello comforted the girl’s seven-year-old brother, Calum, telling him not to run so he would not aggravate the animals – but as she did so, the cheetahs turned on her.
The mother of two said: ‘I never imagined it would attack me because I was an adult. But the next thing I knew I was on the floor and the cheetah was right on top of me.
‘It started scratching me really badly and then I could feel the other one come up too and one of them got my neck in its mouth.
‘I was just screaming and trying to get my hands up around my neck to protect myself, but I was being bitten all over my legs and down my side near my kidneys.
‘People all around were screaming, and I had no idea how I would escape. Something inside me just said, “Don’t move. Don’t move at all. Don’t react, just play dead”.
‘Eventually someone came and chased them off me and my husband picked me up off the floor.’
The housewife, from Aberdeen, was bleeding heavily from cuts to her legs, head and stomach, and needed stitches in hospital.
She said: ‘The doctor at the hospital said cheetahs usually aim for the stomach area and disembowel their victims, so I was lucky to be alive.’
Mr D’Mello, 64, a helicopter pilot who booked the month-long trip as a birthday gift for his wife, said he kept taking photos until he realised the cheetahs were biting her.
Aricle DailyMail UK
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