I just received an e-mail from the Big Cat Diary people's site I subscribe to describing a recent incident in which Simon King and another BBC employee were bitten and scratched by a wild rabid cheetah while they were tending to Toki an orphaned cheetah. Both King and the other man received 7 rabies shots and according to the report are ok. The wild cheetah died of the disease shortly afterwards.
The web site to find the info is
www.new.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6470825.stm
Regards,
Eric

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6470825.stm
Lets see if this works better.
Eric

Yes my husband spotted this article this morning and mentioned it.

Given that it actually happened last summer I'm slightly cynical about the timing of it's release to coincide with the news that the documentary he was filming is to be shown on the BBC next month!

I always believed "Mzunga" meant foreigner...not just a white foreigner.

Tell me something interesting about Saba's feet and you'll have my attention. Honestly I was expecting a humorous post when I read the headline.

What the heck did this bozo, I mean gentleman, think might happen approaching a cheetah in the wild? Unfortunately he got what he deserved apparently for his messing with Mother Nature. I find this very disappointing to hear.

Kevin from California

Agree with Kavey. This is (misguided) PR hype for the new show.

Anyone with an ounce of critical thinking will know that he brought this all on himself.

Stories like these do not do anything positive for wildlife.

CW

I don't know that I'd agree that he bought this upon himself. He's a hugely experienced wildlife documentary maker and I know he wouldn't have the respect of some of those he does have the respect of were he not professional and appropriate in his behaviour with the wildlife.

It may well just have been an ill animal or a simple error in terms of how close he felt was suitable.

I certainly don't think he brought this on himself. Rabies is virtually 100% fatal once symptoms have started so no one would knowlingly subject themselves to the risk. This experience is probably similar to others that have been bitten by rabid animals. His knowledge of normal animal behavior put him at ease, unfortunately this was a sick animal not behaving as expected. Stuff happens with wild animals (Steve Irwin is a prime example). I am sure some of you recall that a world famous herpetologist was killed by a poisonous snake (a Kraite I think) when he inadvertantly put his hand in a bag because he thought it was a non poisonous snake. I do think the timing of the press release is a bit too obvious but nonethess a potentially deadly disease is nothing to laugh at.
Regards
Eric

Whoah there, big man!

This IS an article from the "Entertainment" section guys. NOT the "News" section. Of course it is intended to drum up interest in the documentary... it's about a BBC program and carried in the BBC's entertainment section (think the TV section of your newspaper)...Repeat 10 times with deep breaths...it's not news...it's not news... it's not news... it's not news.

Boy, do some people get steamed up about anything to do with Big Cat Diary (And importantly this documentary has nothing to do with Big Cat Diary by the way, it is filmed up in Laikipia) - well Napamatt gets steamed up another way; specifically about Saba's grubby tootsies..

So far as I know this documentary does not concern Simon King touching cheetahs in an inappropriate manner so perhaps it would be a good idea to wait and see it - I am sure that it will include plenty to debate once we know the whole story (including Simon King's own conclusions).

To change the subject, did you know I'm going to Namibia in two weeks? That's 14 days...

Eric,

Thanks for the link....interesting, indeed!!!

Hari

I would hardly describe my mild cynical reaction as getting steamed up! I am actually a huge fan of Simon King and his portfolio of work and have huge respect for his skills, experience and knowledge.

Did indeed note that the story was in the entertainment section but it was still written as a journalistic report and hence the comment about it's timely release - would it not have been worthy of attention back when it happened in it's own right? Evidently not!

Whilst there are some that are too ready to jump on anything to do with Big Cat Diary or even anything associated with the big names from that show it seems some are too quick to jump to defence even where it's not necessarily warranted!

PS I cannot STAND the Saba feet shots and actually have to turn away from the screen. So the woman drives without shoes? We've seen it, it's not relevant, move on!

Sorry that you took my post that way, Kavey. It was only intended as an observation of the initial general reaction to the "news". Nothing against the individuals at all, and all power to their opinions, which I may even agree with... but the first four response to Eric's link make the thread look like what? Not very constructive? I accept it's not my business, and am not trying to blame any individual, or even a collection of them I'm not always a very 'good' poster myself, as I may have demonstrated here) but I was so surprised the discussion went off in the directions it did. Interviews and publicity prior to the showing of a new movie or TV program are just totally normal - why make something of it?

I'm really not sure my "defence" of Big Cat Diary is a winner - suggesting people not take it too seriously is hardly a rallying call for fans. I don't even dare raise my other defence - that it is better than "American Idol". ;-) I admit I overall quite enjoy the program usually. No greater love than that. Honestly. But I do take your point about defending the program unecessarily (see what a bad poster I am).

I also take the lesson that I should be more careful to try not to appear to be commenting directly on other people's posts. It may be rather rude and should be apologised for in this instance.

How did I get into this position? Better just finish my trip report... or better still complete my tax return.

I think the thing that strikes me is that it's easy to jump to assumptions about the motivation and thoughts of others when communicating in text. A light-hearted post can easily be taken out of context as seems to be the case here, somewhat.

My main feeling was that making an observation on the interesting timing of the release of this news is not really the same as jumping on it or even making something of it. It's just making an observation!

Certainly I don't think there's anything wrong with commenting on peoples' posts at all - long may you continue - just worth thinking twice about whether one has accurately gauged where the poster is coming from or made assumptions?

Bestest regards
Kavita

PS I'm definitely more likely to be found watching wildlife docs than American Idol (or any of the myriad of other reality TV shows)!

I will still be more careful, I think - at least for a while. The forum is going to survive well enough with "kimburu lite" for a few months!

For waht it's worth to know this, I made the apology because it occurred to me that perhaps people have to watch their ps and qs a little too much around here lately, and I thought in (clearly ineffectively) making a point I might be contributing to that - so glad you responded.

Paul

I realise I'm guilty of going over some old ground here but can I return to the original subject? I don't think the full circumstances of the "attack" have been mentioned other than the publicity blurb which is easy to take out of context.

As has already been mentioned, this incident happened last year. Simon King made a programme about 2 cheetahs that had to be hand reared - Toki and Sambu. The original progamme of that was shown 2 or 3 years ago. Only Toki survived (Sambu was killed) and last year Simon filmed a follow up programme about Toki which will be screened on the BBC on 4th April - it will certainly be worth watching. It was during the filming of the follow up that the cheetah attacked him.

Of course the BBC are going to publicise it in advance - it's a commercial organisation in competition with other channels.

Cheetahs do not not attack humans in the wild - or at least healthy ones don't. The key phrases are "in the wild" and "healthy ones". I know that a woman was killed last month in a Belgium zoo but she did go into a cage with a number of cheetahs unauthorised, after the zoo had closed for the night so no-one knows what she did. Cheetahs are very timid animals and normally run away from humans so as a very experienced naturalist, Simon wasn't being reckless. He certainly isn't a bozo!

The incident was reported in some detail on his website www.simonkingwildlife.com - go into diary, then diary archives at the foot of the latest report and look for the August 2006 entry.

I hope this clears up what actually happened.

Chui

Chui
Actually the BBC is not a commercial organisation in competition with other channels. It's remit is public service broadcasting and it is not funded by commercial sales but by a mandatory license fee from all UK tv owners.
Unfortunately, current BBC bosses seem to have lost sight of that fact and spend large budgets on competing with commercial channels in areas such as idents and channel logos and so forth!
Anyway, that's by the by.
Many thanks for the additional information on the incident.

Kavey,

I think you read too much into my phrase "commercial organisation". I accept that it's mainly funded by licence fees as I pay them.

The main point is that it competes with other channels for viewers - irrespective of its remit (which I think is less recognisable these days) and your second paragraph acknowledges this.

Incidentally, revenues from programmes (like Big Cat Week) sold to other networks become part of BBC's funds so I guess it is partly a commercial organisation.

Thanks for correcting me.

Chui.

Everyone,

There was a clip about the incident on this morning's BBC Breakfast news programme in the UK; also a live chat with Simon King.

Look at http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/scien...re/default.stm

Go halfway down under Video & Audio News and click on "film-maker recalls cheetah attack".

Chui