DURBAN – A young Belgian female volunteer was attacked by a captive cheetah at a captive wildlife facility in South Africa last month.
In a statement on Wednesday, Blood Lions NGO said the volunteer was left traumatised after the attack. According to the organisation, the volunteer was filming outside the cheetah’s enclosure while her colleague was on feeding duty.
“As soon as her colleague opened the enclosure gate, one of the cheetahs approached the volunteer swiftly, jumped on her back, aiming for her throat.”
While the facility manager got the cheetah away from her, the volunteer had to be treated in hospital for deep bite marks and cuts.
The volunteer said she did not want other volunteers to go through a similar experience.
“Although the facility pleaded with me to keep the incident quiet … People need to understand that to be close to wild animals is appealing, but not safe,” she said.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment announced in May that commercial captive lion breeding would no longer be allowed.
Blood Lions said incidents like the cheetah incident emphasised the need to extend the captive lion recommendations to all other captive big cats, including all exotic species such as tigers, and reinforces the need to immediately apply the SA Tourism Services Association Animal Interaction Guidelines throughout the tourism sector.
Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy gazetted the draft policy position on conservation and ecologically sustainable use of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino on June 28 for public comment.
The public has 30 days from the time of publication to submit recommendations.
If you would like to submit comment on the draft policy or contact the department’s Dr Kiruben Naicker, CLICK HERE for further details.
THE MERCURY