A COUPLE told of how a tiger launched at their car on a safari trip – but all the park’s owner gave them as compensation was a £10 voucher.
Michelle Brand and her boyfriend, Dane Greenfield, were driving in the latter’s Citroen C3 around the tiger enclosure at Longleat Safari Park on Saturday, when the animal attacked.
It left tooth marks in the rear bumper (pictured).
Ms Brand said: “There are big adverts on the monkey enclosure saying that they may attack the car, or that the car could be damaged if you drive through it, so funnily enough we decided not to drive through that part.
“They [the tigers] started walking towards the cars, and then they came
up to the window.
“It literally just opened its mouth and leapt at the car.
“It dug its teeth in and held on for a bit, and you could see it had been shaking, thinking the car was its meat. It looked like it was shaking trying to tear it [the bumper] apart.”
It was Ms Brand’s boyfriend who originally noticed the tiger acting aggressively, as he was taking pictures out of the window.
She explained: “My boyfriend was really shaken up over it, as he was looking out the window when it happened.
“We were a bit annoyed, as we only got given a £10 voucher for food and drink as a consolation.
“The response we got from Longleat was really disappointing, as I don’t really think a £10 food and drink voucher compensates your car getting bitten by a tiger.
“They had rangers walking around in the enclosure in case the animals get angry, but they just sat there and didn’t do anything, and we were hardly going to get out of the car to complain at the time.”
Longleat has been contacted for a comment.
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