A French family has escaped a group of cheetahs after video shows the predators slowly approaching the family, before confronting them and forcing them to quickly get back into their vehicle.
The shocking moment was caught on video by another person in a vehicle driving through the Beekse Bergen safari park in the Netherlands.
In the video, it shows a family pulling up near where several cheetahs are resting, and getting out of their vehicle to take photos.
Eventually, the family gets back into their vehicle and is later seen on a hill further away.
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At this point, a cheetah runs towards the family while a tourist in a different vehicle follows the big cats while still filming.
Other cheetahs are seen on the hill as two people run for the car and get into the vehicle.
Then, a woman starts making her way back to the vehicle, picking up a child as she goes, while a third person runs back to the vehicle.
The cheetahs then follow the woman as she walks. One cheetah then moves close to the woman who appears to be shooing the cats away as she walks back to the car.
Just before she gets back into the vehicle, a cheetah leaps forward once more before the entire family is safely back inside.
No one was injured as a result of the incident.
According to the Dutch Broadcast Foundation, also known as NOS, the safari was unaware of the incident until the video appeared.
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“There have been some reports that day, but no one was aware of the fact that people have made a kind of beach walk in the stay of the cheetahs,” park manager Niels de Wildt told NOS Radio 1 News.
De Wildt said the cheetahs are on a food schedule which is why they were not on the hunt, but said they still behaved normally when the family was in their territory.
“But in the end, they did respond to this exceptional visit and these people have been incredibly lucky,” he said.
While in the park, people are told to stay in their vehicles and warned about the dangers of interacting with the animals.
The park’s manager told NOS they even inform visitors of the risks in several languages throughout the safari park, though despite the incident, they do not plan on placing additional French-language information signs.
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