Cheetah mauls Kiwi boy at safari park

A Christchurch boy has been attacked by a cheetah in South Africa.

Isaac Driver, 14, was touring the Emdoneni Safari Park in Zululand with his family on Wednesday morning (local time), when the attack happened.

About 20 people from the group were allowed to pat two cheetahs, under the supervision of tour guides.

As the group left the enclosure, one of the cheetahs walked through the group and pushed Isaac to the ground, Isaac’s mother Mandy Driver said.

‘‘[It] pushed through a few different people, caught my daughter’s top, ripped all her top, and then landed on my son as he was facing it . . . and pushed him to the ground,’’ she said.

‘‘[The cheetah] landed him on the ground as though it was eating him. It was horrible, it was really scary.’’

She said her husband, David Driver, ‘‘seemed to appear from nowhere’’ to rescue his son.

‘‘He just grabbed the cheetah, pulled it off him, and just held it to the ground,’’ she said.

Other than injuries to his back and shoulder, she said her son was ‘‘OK’’.

‘‘I think he just wants to go home, really. He’s doing OK – he’s not complaining about it. He bought himself a cheetah T-shirt. He’s coped with it amazingly well considering he was attacked by a big cat.’’

The park refunded the price of their tour, she said.

’’I wouldn’t like to see it get shut down, if it’s doing good things for the animals, but I also wouldn’t like to see anybody else get hurt,’’ she said. ’’On the photos [which the park uses on its website] there are a lot of young children in these cages with these wild cats.’’

The Emdoneni Lodge website says all visitors enter the enclosures ‘‘at their own risk’’. ‘‘Interaction is possible but please bear in mind that these animals are still wild animals.’’

The family is set to return to Christchurch next week.