Honestly I'm a little surprised a cheetah could seriously injure a human. They're by far the smallest and weakest of the big cats, and frequently have difficulty subduing their prey on account of being so overspecialized for speed. A healthy adult human could probably do some real harm to a cheetah with a well-placed kick.

I'd never jump in the cage with one and start playing with it though. This lady deserved to get Darwined.

Love the look on the cheetah's face in that last picture.

"Try to stand up biatch, just farking try."

BurnShrike: So.. you're saying it's a bad idea to get into an enclosure with a group of large top predators, even if they're "tamed"?

Obviously we didn't imagine that anything like this would happen.

Then you're a farking moron. My domesticated house cats have the occasional instinctual lash-out at my hands or feet. These cats are much larger than that, and are wild animals regardless of how you've caged them.


Yup. Yet another moron who doesn't understand the difference between a domesticated and a wild animal, and what that means vis a vis your safety when you let some 2nd world jackhole talk you into petting a wild apex predator for a few bucks. I don't feel sorry for her one bit.

Even domesticated cats are relatively wild compared to some other domesticated animals. I used to wonder how awesome it would be to have a rottweiler sized version of my kitty.... until I realized she'd be a chillingly efficient bringer of death, as many times I'd seen her haul animals back to our house that were MUCH larger than herself. One day she'd get pissy because she's an animal and just happened to have that mood that day, and I'd suddenly find myself or my wife getting suffocated to death by her powerful jaws around our windpipe.

Pet SMALL kitties. Admire the big ones from afar.

approves

Another way it could have gone down.

http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/05/03/hungry-zoo-lion-faces-off-wit h -unfazed-t?videoId=234410277&videoChannel=2602

tame : cheetah :: not retarded : anyone who tries to pet a cheetah

Odd Bird: [i.dailymail.co.uk image 474x486]

You can clearly see the cheetah's going, "Seriously? You're bugging me for pictures? I'll give you pictures...." That cat's not happy.

I'm tempted to say the cheetahs were only "playing" with her. Even in TFA a doctor says cheetahs aim to disembowel, so the fact she lived and had no attacks to her major organ areas is pretty significant to me.

That said, I've seen shows on NatGeo and the like where cheetahs are shown taking down elephants. Doesn't seem like a good animal to play with, what with all my soft squishy bits.

/I enjoyed the headline, subby!

I woudl never get in that pen. If I was forced/tricked I would never pet the thing.

Moron.

So I'm guessing the husband really doesn't want to be a husband? There is no way a loving husband would not drop what he is doing to save his wife. Let alone sit there and take pictures of what could have been his wife's death.

dahmers love zombie: Ridiculous. Adult big cats. If you want pics like that, you have to go a bit smaller. Like if you just happen to end up in a room with a lion, a tiger, and a black leopard. That's some fun, let me tell you.

[i.imgur.com image 640x560]

/Gags on the cute overload
//Would admire through a very thick window; NOT on my back

I think they could have done some damage if they were really trying. It really does look more like "over excited".

They will eat your corpse after you die!

//you don't have to sell me on the virtues of cats as pets!

Mock26: Our opposable thumb and highly evolved brain mean that we are the ultimate predator on the planet. However, that only applies to situations where that matters (like taking on a grizzly bear from inside a tank). If you step into a cage full of big cats without any weapon you have just thrown away both of your advantages. You deserve whatever happens as a result of your stupidity.

To be fair, if you climb into a cage full of big cats unarmed, you can't really claim a "highly evolved brain" as one of your advantages. Also, you will still have your opposable thumbs - which will be very helpful to grab your ankles so you can kiss your ass goodbye.

"Well, it's still better than the "Komodo dragon petting zoo"

dahmers love zombie: Ridiculous. Adult big cats. If you want pics like that, you have to go a bit smaller. Like if you just happen to end up in a room with a lion, a tiger, and a black leopard. That's some fun, let me tell you.

[i.imgur.com image 640x560]

That IS adorable, though a girl I knew that used to work with all kinds of Big cats including Ligers told me that if she knew they'd been fed recently she'd never worry about bing in a cage with a lion or tiger, but a leopard? Those she said were mean little farks who'd kill you just for giggles

Quasar: Apparently the husband was outside the enclosure and, I presume, couldn't get in. Still seems ridiculous to sit there for several minutes taking pictures of it instead of trying to tear the gates down.

That depends on if he liked his wife or if he was hoping these cats killed the silly biatch and he could get a great big payday out of it.

Quasar: Apparently the husband was outside the enclosure and, I presume, couldn't get in. Still seems ridiculous to sit there for several minutes taking pictures of it instead of trying to tear the gates down.

He might have been cheering for the cheetah.

"Cheetahs, cheetahs, try to beat us - we're the fastest we're the neatest. Gooooo CHEETAHS!"

Cheetahs are actually the most amiable and potentially domestic of the big cats. You hear of people having them as pets all the time. Sounds like they were just cranky about things and someone let their crotchfruit run rampant in the cage, so they were thinking 'small noisy running thing = food' and got a bit bitey. Just like any other feline.

dahmers love zombie: Ridiculous. Adult big cats. If you want pics like that, you have to go a bit smaller. Like if you just happen to end up in a room with a lion, a tiger, and a black leopard. That's some fun, let me tell you.

[i.imgur.com image 640x560]

I like big cats (can't stand their small cousins). That leopard is awesome.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy: Honestly I'm a little surprised a cheetah could seriously injure a human. They're by far the smallest and weakest of the big cats, and frequently have difficulty subduing their prey on account of being so overspecialized for speed. A healthy adult human could probably do some real harm to a cheetah with a well-placed kick.

I'd never jump in the cage with one and start playing with it though. This lady deserved to get Darwined.

Holy crap, man. Damn thing is five times the size of a bobcat, and a bobcat can seriously fark you up. Sure, you could hurt it with a well placed kick. You could hurt a pit bull with a well placed kick, too. Let me know if you think they can seriously injure a human.

Here is a complete guess on what happened.

1. Adults and kids enter cage.
2. Little girl starts running.
3. Adult tries to catch her.
4. Cheetah interprets this as adult attacking the child.
5. Cheetah attacks and knocks down adult, and attacks adult every time she tries to get up.
6. Other cheetah eventually goes to help the first cheetah keep the bad adult down.

If this were a dog, this would be the obvious conclusion. I suspect the cheetah (which was raised by humans) felt the same way. I also suspect if it was a strange cheetah in the wild that appeared to be attacking a cub, this is how the mom would react.

Part of the reason why I came to this conclusion was that the woman played dead. I daresay if the cheetah was really pissed at her, she'd be lunch.

Diogenes: mark12A: It was a pretty good episode last night.

"We're playing Doctor...Star Trek Style"

"I'm in Hell, Leonard."

-Pause, looks at Amy...
"Don't stop."

cheetahs shoulda mauled the husband, since he's considered the real catch eh eh

Five Tails of Fury: Sounds like they were just cranky about things and someone let their crotchfruit run rampant in the cage, so they were thinking 'small noisy running thing = food' and got a bit bitey. Just like any other feline.

Maybe you should read the article before coming in to tell us what it sounds like.

Five Tails of Fury: Cheetahs are actually the most amiable and potentially domestic of the big cats. You hear of people having them as pets all the time. Sounds like they were just cranky about things and someone let their crotchfruit run rampant in the cage, so they were thinking 'small noisy running thing = food' and got a bit bitey. Just like any other feline.


There's no "potentially domestic". They may or may not be the "most amiable" of the big cats, but they are still wild animals. They are not domesticated animals. There is a difference between wild and domesticated and it's an important difference when talking about social interaction with human beings.

"Mauled"? Those cats did not even have their claws out. These are animals that can bring down a Zebra if they need to, if you are going to "pet" them you can expect some cuts and bruises if they become playful.

I'm biased as I have been to that park a number of times, but come on, if your wife is being "mauled" you don't stand around taking photos, except if you need them for a premeditated insurance scam.

Those cheetahs will pay for what they did...

because cheetahs never prosper!

:D

What kind of morons run that place?
I friends who own a big cat (and other animals) sanctuary.
They would NEVER let tourists interact with the adult cats. They do let people sit on the ground among very young cubs, but even then people are warned to only touch them if they decide to climb on you, and even then to move slowly and only pet them, not try to hold them in any way.

Private_Citizen: Mock26: Our opposable thumb and highly evolved brain mean that we are the ultimate predator on the planet. However, that only applies to situations where that matters (like taking on a grizzly bear from inside a tank). If you step into a cage full of big cats without any weapon you have just thrown away both of your advantages. You deserve whatever happens as a result of your stupidity.

To be fair, if you climb into a cage full of big cats unarmed, you can't really claim a "highly evolved brain" as one of your advantages. Also, you will still have your opposable thumbs - which will be very helpful to grab your ankles so you can kiss your ass goodbye.

Yep. As I said, you have just thrown away both of your advantages! :-D

To make things worse she then got her head stuck in a tree.

The kitty was just being frisky. If she didn't wear that spotted ensemble they likely wouldn't have tried to rape her.

/sad no images of Bubbles or Trevor
//Leaving dissapoint
///Still has slashies

And because it's necessary...

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy: Honestly I'm a little surprised a cheetah could seriously injure a human. They're by far the smallest and weakest of the big cats, and frequently have difficulty subduing their prey on account of being so overspecialized for speed. A healthy adult human could probably do some real harm to a cheetah with a well-placed kick.

If a housecat got seriously pissed and latched onto your arm and started kicking and biting, you'd get shredded badly before you could get it off.

Also, there was a case recently where a hiker was killed by coyotes in Nova Scotia. That story just blew my mind, but if you think a cheetah is harmless imagine being killed by a bunch of coyotes!

There is no amount of money, none, that could make me get anywhere near a big cat predator with big teeth and claws. I've had numerous cats in my life that would be completely tame and gentle one second and then instantly grab my hand for some unknown reason and just start to shred it with their teeth and claws. Fortunately, they were small teeth and claws, so it's kind of cute. Kind of, though I have to admit a little bit of fear at what they could even do at their small size. I can't imagine the terror that would bring if with those cats magnified about 10 times to the size of a cheetah.

If there's not a HUGE fence accompanied by a HUGE moat separating me and the big cats, then you won't find me anywhere near there.

Jument: imagine being killed by a bunch of coyotes!

They'd have to be better at converting Power Plays first.

What were we talking about again?

Private_Citizen: Great headline subby!

Not surprised though. We had a nitwit who jumped the fence at the zoo to pet the Tiger. Predicatable outcome.

Tiger got put down? :(

Yamaneko2: and covered the wounds with "distress fluid" generated by his anal glands.

Did someone say distress fluid?