A clever British woman escaped from the claws of death by mere presence of mind and after following her inner instincts. Sixty years old Violet D’Mello who was enjoying a birthday bash at the Kragga Kamma game reserve near Port Elizabeth in South Africa, suddenly was shaken by a jolt. Actually the D’Mellow couple visited the park and was lured to a Cheetah enclosure where tame cheetahs were kept. In this enclosure tourists can pay £4.50 to pet cheetah brothers Mark and Monty, both hand-reared and said to be tame. And initially the lady was patting one of the cheetahs and giving poses to her 64-year old hubby, who was taking photographs. However the joy ended as one of the Cheetah s grabbed hold of an eight-year-old Camryn Malan, who was among other tourists in the enclosure, and began biting her leg.

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Ms. D’Mellow tried to pacify the seven year old brother of the girl, Calum when one of the Cheetahs pounced on her. The cheetah pushed her down on to the floor and started biting her on the neck and on her leg. Profusely bleeding and bruised the mother of two suddenly felt that the only way to survive was to lay dead and that is what she did. Finally the cheetahs were scared away, by the authorities and the lady was treated medically. She needed bandages for wounds on her head, stomach and legs and was given doses of painkillers and antibiotics.

The birthday gift given by Mr D’Mellow, a helicopter pilot to his wife turned out to be her real second birthday for the old lady.  Distorted Mr D’ Mellow said, ‘I couldn’t do anything and the guide didn’t even have a stick to defend herself. In the end a woman from reception came running over with a stick which the guide used to frighten away the cheetahs. The attack must have been going on for three minutes at least by then.’ (With Inputs from Internet- Aarkay)