Even the seemly tame and friendly cheetah can be dangerous sometimes.
A woman who was mauled by cheetahs at a South African game preserve tried to save her daughter when she was grabbed by another cheetah from the behind. She tried to play dead, while her husband took plenty of photos before went ahead to save her.
What kind of husband was that? Photos first, then save his wife?
Cheetah is quite tame usually. Even on Animal Planet they always portrait cheetah as human friendly. Some ancient Egyptian wall paintings have cheetah hunt along side of humans. As far as I know, there had been only two incident with cheetah. The last one was simply a miss bite. This time it sounds dangerous. Cheetah is all for speed, and they aren't built for fight, but they still can take down larger animals than themselves, it should tell us something.
I bet the husband sold the photos for some good money and was telling his wife "It's worth it". Shame on him.
It's just impossible to maintain these guys under normal conditions. Any larger cat can still play. Anyone that has had cats knows that at least once in a while you may get swatted at, nipped, etc, either in play or out of irritation. With a 12lb house cat it is cute. With that? Dangerous.
In Washington zoo, I had seen two zoo keepers walked into the enclosure and threw balls to play with 3 cheetah. The cheetah did go after the balls like a bunch of house cats!
Consider cheetah can take down prey much larger and stronger than humans. They can be still dangerous when they want to be, even they appear to be harmless and friendly most of the time.
My point was, they can be dangerous even when they don't want to be. Cat "play" is to hone fighting, attack, and feeding skills. So what a little cat does that seems cute and is harmless, can be deadly when done by a cat with bigger claws, teeth, and more stregnth.
I agree. A cat half the size of human would be stronger than us. Never mind the similar or bigger sized "cats".
It was on TV a few years back when a tiger accidentally killed his keeper during playing. Cops came and they just shot both tigers in the enclosure with shotguns at close range, before getting the keeper's body out. Sad! That tiger was only giving a "hug". The second tiger didn't do anything!
(05-14-2012, 01:36 AM)Flexin Wrote: Something is wrong with the husbands head. I don't know how he could just stand there and take pictures.
And were were the handlers? Why did it take 3 minutes for them to remove the cheetahs?
James
There are things we normal people can never understand. From the video, it seems the husband is more angry than the wife.
Handlers should also be with the visitors. I say it is the fault of popular media which had been portrait cheetah as completely harmless wild animals. Big cats are big cats. They are stronger than humans, and they have weapons on them 24/7.
(05-14-2012, 01:36 AM)Flexin Wrote: Something is wrong with the husbands head. I don't know how he could just stand there and take pictures.
And were were the handlers? Why did it take 3 minutes for them to remove the cheetahs?
James
There are things we normal people can never understand. From the video, it seems the husband is more angry than the wife.
Handlers should also be with the visitors. I say it is the fault of popular media which had been portrait cheetah as completely harmless wild animals. Big cats are big cats. They are stronger than humans, and they have weapons on them 24/7.
I didn't get to see the video. I think it wasn't available here.
We can put the blame on a lot of people. We can blame the media but in the end it comes down to a lack of common sense. I'm not afraid of dogs but at times I know when I need to be really careful around certain ones.
The media might have played a part in it but others are more to blame. The one running the petting zoo didn't do everything they could imo to keep customers safe. If there are two big cats in there they should have at least 2 if not more handlers in there just in case things go bad.
I'm sure the handlers would be cheaper then any lawsuit.
James
05-15-2012, 12:28 AM, (This post was last modified: 05-15-2012, 12:29 AM by Ram.)
After watching and reading it again, it seems it was originally a predatory attack on a child, ad she stepped in the way. I don't know how small the child was, but it likely was squared up as lunch. Getting between an animal and lunch is not a good place to be.
(05-23-2012, 12:50 PM)Flexin Wrote: Yeah I know. I tried to watch it but It won't play for me. "This video is not available in your area" is the message I get.
James
Where are you from?
Maybe the video is only available in the U.S. due to license issue. Just like all the netflix movies. If you get a free proxy server located inside the U.S., you can watch it.
(05-23-2012, 12:50 PM)Flexin Wrote: Yeah I know. I tried to watch it but It won't play for me. "This video is not available in your area" is the message I get.
James
Where are you from?
Maybe the video is only available in the U.S. due to license issue. Just like all the netflix movies. If you get a free proxy server located inside the U.S., you can watch it.
I live in Canada so I'm pretty sure that is the issue. It wouldn't be the first time it happened.
Not available here in the US, so it might be only available for people in the UK.
The keepers should have been inside with the tourists as the case with any animal wild or not. They are very unpredictable. I don't think the cheetahs had lined up the little girl as lunch but more as a playmate and in their case is very rough on humans. It sucks that the husband is probably going to go ahead in file a lawsuit and the real losers are going to be the cheetahs.
I don't really understand why the handlers were so far away from the animals that it took them 3 full minutes to get to her and get control of the cheetahs. They are cute and adorable but I wouldn't get that close to one unless someone in charge was right there next to me, no matter how tame they said they were.
As for the attack, maybe they were just playing with the little girl and when mom went after the girl, maybe the cheetahs felt threatened? Who knows.
In my opinion all wild animals are just that wild and should be approached which great caution. I agree thought that Cheetah’s aren’t known for attacking humans. At the zoo in my city you can purchase a Cheetah experience where you get to touch one while being supervised by a zookeeper.
As for the husband, what a sick man taking photographs without a worry about his wife or daughter.
![[Image: ap_South_Africa_violet_d_mello_jt_120505_wmain.jpg]](http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/mlakbk.pnsaFeOfxmvu6Zw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTM1MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/Reuters/ap_South_Africa_violet_d_mello_jt_120505_wmain.jpg)
