Incident at Dutch safari park after French family goes for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure

Here you can see a French family going for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure. People where gesturing for them to get back in the car and nervously laughing about the situation. Afterwards people who viewed and filmed this were being asked as to why they did not use their klaxon to alert the people to get in their cars. They answered that they did not want to agitate the cheetah's any further and they were afraid they would scare the cats into making the situation even worse.

But how stupid do you have to be to do something like that. Luckily these are reasonably docile members of the cat family (when it comes to big cats) and that they are well fed and the family did not make it worse by running fast with their backs turned to the cars.

And how stupid do you have to be to get out in a safari park? How do people not know you cannot get out there. Luckily they did it in the cheetah enclosure and not in the lion enclosure because then they most likely would have been dead.

On the website it says:

Article 4. Car safari

1. Visitors are not permitted to leave their vehicles during the car safari.
2. The driver of the car must be in possession of a valid driver's license. Normal traffic rules apply in the car safari. There is a maximum speed
limit of 20 km/h in effect in the park.
3. Traffic in the park is one way only. Always keep to the right unless otherwise indicated.
4. Animals, safari buses and jeeps of Safari Park Beekse Bergen have the right of way in the park. Give them the space to pass.
5. It is not permitted to use a car with an open roof during the car safari.
6. Windows and doors must be closed during the entire journey (maximum 5 cm open for ventilation).
7. In the event of engine trouble, remain inside your vehicle and beep your horn for assistance.

And for French people it is even on there in French.

Also with English, Dutch and images to convey people to NOT GET OUT OF THEIR CARS.

Which should be something no common sense person would do, get out among wild and dangerous animals is not wise anywhere, not in the wild and not in a safari park of WILD animals.

Luckily the cats were not too aggressive and that is what saved the lives of especially the children in the group of French people.

Gotta get them Instagram likes yo.

Idiots... Darwin must be sleeping.

OrphanSlug said:

Idiots... Darwin must be sleeping.

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Nature almost eliminated their unwise bloodline by killing their children. How stupid do you indeed have to be. And even if you are not smart enough to read the rules, or look at the pictures, or read English, or think that there must be a reason that there are no picnic tables and seating arrangements in among the animals, or that none of the other people are outside of their cars, even if all of those things "were missed" by those people, common sense dictates that big claws, fast animals and deadly teeth do not mix well with little kiddies?

Really incredibly stupid people.

Peter King said:

Here you can see a French family going for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure. ...Afterwards people who...filmed this were...asked... why they did not use their klaxon to alert the people to get in their cars. They answered that they did not want to agitate the cheetah's any further and they were afraid they would scare the cats into making the situation even worse.

...Luckily these are reasonably docile members of the cat family (when it comes to big cats) and that they are well fed and the family did not make it worse by running fast with their backs turned to the cars.

And how stupid do you have to be to get out in a safari park? How do people not know you cannot get out there. Luckily they did it in the cheetah enclosure and not in the lion enclosure because then they most likely would have been dead.

On the website it says:

Article 4. Car safari

1. Visitors are not permitted to leave their vehicles during the car safari.

<snip>

7. In the event of engine trouble, remain inside your vehicle and beep your horn for assistance.

And for French people it is even on there in French.

Also with English, Dutch and images to convey people to NOT GET OUT OF THEIR CARS.

Which should be something no common sense person would do, get out among wild and dangerous animals is not wise anywhere, not in the wild and not in a safari park of WILD animals.

Luckily the cats were not too aggressive and that is what saved the lives of especially the children in the group of French people.

Click to expand...

I haven't been on a car safari (have been on others), but seeing the "rules" you've noted, it wouldn't surprise me if blowing the horn was useless....animals tend to get used to things and put "2 and 2" together about what certain sounds augur. If those cheetahs have heard car horns enough, they know exactly how long before more people and cars arrive. I don't know how long that may be, but it could be long enough for the cats to get a chunk or two of flesh. Being the most slight of the big cats, cheetahs are fast eaters, not necessarily waiting for their meal to be dead when immobilised and dying will do, but perhaps the nature of a car safari has attenuated their urge to eat and run with such alacrity....


Relatively docile --> Yes, I hear you, but they're still cats, which basically means that if it moves, it's either food or entertainment. For people, it's just not good to be construed as either by a cat the size of a cheetah. LOL

Lions --> Well, if a pride or pair of lionesses had taken an interest in them, yes, the tourists' odds would have been worse. Lions tend mostly to organize and rouse themselves to hunt at dusk, night and dawn, though if opportunity knocks on a hungry lioness pair (or male), time of day isn't of much consequence. But they're still cats and the tourists were "new" creatures walking about in their territory, and that would pique some measure of interest. In my experience, mostly, one comes across lions that are primarily interested in sleeping. Cheetahs, on the other hand, tend to hunt during the day.

Getting out of car --> The safaris I've taken are ones where walking about is part and parcel of the experience. That said, if the guide says start heading to the truck, you head to the truck. I've done a horseback safari too. That was a little too thrilling for my taste when we were moving about a zebra heard. All I kept thinking was, "To a bunch of lions, how different from a zebra does a horse look?" (The short answer, is "not different enough.") Truly, I was more than ready to check out the elephants or anything that didn't look like regular lion food because I knew that where there's no lion food, there're no lions. (If you are an adrenaline junkie, by all means, go on a horseback safari.)

One thing about safaris...they give one a whole new appreciation for the fact that humans, as a species, survived long enough to make it out of Africa as well as why early humans sought to leave Africa; pretty much anywhere was bound to be safer. If it wasn't not one thing, it was another in the wilderness there. There are deadly flies and mosquitos; highly venomous snakes that are easy to step on; ornery large animals like buffalo, hippo and elephants; and dog packs and big cats that actively look for you because they know humans are easy prey if they can get hold of one. Even the other large primates are stronger, faster and have sharper and pointier teeth and claws, and in the right situation, a human looked like dinner to them too. It's no wonder early hominids didn't endure as a species unto themselves.

But, yes, getting out of the car in that venue, particularly after having just seen the wide awake cheetahs, was pretty stupid.

Peter King said:

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OMG! I watched the video a second the. The woman who was last to get in the car was carrying a child!

The cats' posture seemed, from what I could tell from the video, to be that of territorial defense more so than "on the hunt." If I'm right about the cats' being more interested in driving the intruders off their open space, that was a stroke of luck for those tourists....

Xelor said:

OMG! I watched the video a second the. The woman who was last to get in the car was carrying a child!

The cats' posture seemed, from what I could tell from the video, to be that of territorial defense more so than "on the hunt." If I'm right about the cats' being more interested in driving the intruders off their open space, that was a stroke of luck for those tourists....

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It was ludicrously dangerous to have done that. They may have been chasing them off, but if one of those children has been on it's feet, they would have most likely pounced. They would not have ignored such a nice morsel of meat.

And from your previous post, being on a horse is not really a protection for a hungry lion.

Peter King said:

Here you can see a French family going for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure. People where gesturing for them to get back in the car and nervously laughing about the situation. Afterwards people who viewed and filmed this were being asked as to why they did not use their klaxon to alert the people to get in their cars. They answered that they did not want to agitate the cheetah's any further and they were afraid they would scare the cats into making the situation even worse.

But how stupid do you have to be to do something like that. Luckily these are reasonably docile members of the cat family (when it comes to big cats) and that they are well fed and the family did not make it worse by running fast with their backs turned to the cars.

And how stupid do you have to be to get out in a safari park? How do people not know you cannot get out there. Luckily they did it in the cheetah enclosure and not in the lion enclosure because then they most likely would have been dead.

On the website it says:

Article 4. Car safari

1. Visitors are not permitted to leave their vehicles during the car safari.
2. The driver of the car must be in possession of a valid driver's license. Normal traffic rules apply in the car safari. There is a maximum speed
limit of 20 km/h in effect in the park.
3. Traffic in the park is one way only. Always keep to the right unless otherwise indicated.
4. Animals, safari buses and jeeps of Safari Park Beekse Bergen have the right of way in the park. Give them the space to pass.
5. It is not permitted to use a car with an open roof during the car safari.
6. Windows and doors must be closed during the entire journey (maximum 5 cm open for ventilation).
7. In the event of engine trouble, remain inside your vehicle and beep your horn for assistance.

And for French people it is even on there in French.

Also with English, Dutch and images to convey people to NOT GET OUT OF THEIR CARS.

Which should be something no common sense person would do, get out among wild and dangerous animals is not wise anywhere, not in the wild and not in a safari park of WILD animals.

Luckily the cats were not too aggressive and that is what saved the lives of especially the children in the group of French people.

Click to expand...

I think a big part of why they were so dumb had to do with the fact that cheetahs don’t really seem to have a reputation for being dangerous like lions, tigers, or leopards do. When it comes to the animals that don’t look really dangerous, yet are(case in point— hippos) people will take a lot more stupid risks.

Peter King said:

It was ludicrously dangerous to have done that. They may have been chasing them off, but if one of those children has been on it's feet, they would have most likely pounced. They would not have ignored such a nice morsel of meat.

Click to expand...

Peter King said:

And from your previous post, being on a horse is not really a protection for a hungry lion.

Click to expand...

No, it most certainly is not! LOL At least not if there's more than one lion aiming to make a meal of the horse and dessert of its mount.

The horse can easily outrun one lion. The problem with lions is that they don't generally come in ones. LOL

I can't speak for all "uncontrolled" safaris, but the guides for ones I've been on were very clear about the fact that while we would seek to find and observe some local lions, but that a pride of three or more lionesses was not what we were seeking. Indeed, a pride of that size or more was decidedly not what we wanted to encounter. That's the sort of lion viewing one does from inside a truck. Even experienced hunters, trackers, zoologists, etc. don't generally go on foot with large groups of lions in the area -- "area" being within a square mile or two.


"Stuck in the middle with you" is not a good thing to be with three or more lions are around. And screaming, "Pleeease," is of no use....there is simply nowhere to run or hide. Your ass'll be praying for tree that you can climb higher than can a lion. Even the guys with guns will tell you that if there're enough of them, you can't shoot them all, and a wounded lion isn't necessarily going to withdraw; they get wounded all the time when they're hunting and fighting.

Peter King said:

Nature almost eliminated their unwise bloodline by killing their children. How stupid do you indeed have to be. And even if you are not smart enough to read the rules, or look at the pictures, or read English, or think that there must be a reason that there are no picnic tables and seating arrangements in among the animals, or that none of the other people are outside of their cars, even if all of those things "were missed" by those people, common sense dictates that big claws, fast animals and deadly teeth do not mix well with little kiddies?

Really incredibly stupid people.

Click to expand...

Agreed

Peter King said:

Here you can see a French family going for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure. People where gesturing for them to get back in the car and nervously laughing about the situation. Afterwards people who viewed and filmed this were being asked as to why they did not use their klaxon to alert the people to get in their cars. They answered that they did not want to agitate the cheetah's any further and they were afraid they would scare the cats into making the situation even worse.

But how stupid do you have to be to do something like that. Luckily these are reasonably docile members of the cat family (when it comes to big cats) and that they are well fed and the family did not make it worse by running fast with their backs turned to the cars.

And how stupid do you have to be to get out in a safari park? How do people not know you cannot get out there. Luckily they did it in the cheetah enclosure and not in the lion enclosure because then they most likely would have been dead.

On the website it says:

Article 4. Car safari

1. Visitors are not permitted to leave their vehicles during the car safari.
2. The driver of the car must be in possession of a valid driver's license. Normal traffic rules apply in the car safari. There is a maximum speed
limit of 20 km/h in effect in the park.
3. Traffic in the park is one way only. Always keep to the right unless otherwise indicated.
4. Animals, safari buses and jeeps of Safari Park Beekse Bergen have the right of way in the park. Give them the space to pass.
5. It is not permitted to use a car with an open roof during the car safari.
6. Windows and doors must be closed during the entire journey (maximum 5 cm open for ventilation).
7. In the event of engine trouble, remain inside your vehicle and beep your horn for assistance.

And for French people it is even on there in French.

Also with English, Dutch and images to convey people to NOT GET OUT OF THEIR CARS.

Which should be something no common sense person would do, get out among wild and dangerous animals is not wise anywhere, not in the wild and not in a safari park of WILD animals.

Luckily the cats were not too aggressive and that is what saved the lives of especially the children in the group of French people.

Click to expand...

How come all the swearing was in English?

Do we have the best phrases?

Peter King said:

~ Here you can see a French family going for a stroll in the cheetah enclosure ~

Click to expand...

People do stupid things in big cat enclosures. The idiots actually exited their car twice. If you watch the video on this link

Cheetahs chase family at safari park - BBC News

You'll see them in two different locations within the cheetah enclosure.

Not the first such incident - in 2016 a Chinese family had an argument in a Chinese tiger enclosure which ended up with a daughter storming out. One tiger attacked her and the others in the car came to her rescue only for mother to be killed by a second tiger.

Infinite Chaos said:

People do stupid things in big cat enclosures. The idiots actually exited their car twice. If you watch the video on this link

Cheetahs chase family at safari park - BBC News

You'll see them in two different locations within the cheetah enclosure.

Not the first such incident - in 2016 a Chinese family had an argument in a Chinese tiger enclosure which ended up with a daughter storming out. One tiger attacked her and the others in the car came to her rescue only for mother to be killed by a second tiger.

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Tragic, you can never be too safe with big cats. And I knew, they got out first, drove for about another 100 yards and then got out of their car again. Knowing full well from the first time they got out of their car that the cats were awake and noticing them. Really stupid.