A woman mauled by two cheetahs at the wildlife refugee declared that she was fine and the attack was no big deal.

Judy Berens, the owner of the Panther Ridge Conservation Center near West Palm Beach, was attacked by the two animals while she was playing with them at an exhibition Saturday.

Apparently, a child in the audience was bouncing a ball and that distracted the attention of one cheetah, which ran to catch it. Berens was in its way, so the cheetah took her down and then bit her and scratched her, while the other cheetah joined the first one.

The behavior of big cats is similar to the one of domestic cats. They have the impression they caught something, they treat it like prey and they do not want to let go. That is what probably happened in Berens’ case as well. People in the area sprayed water on the cheetahs to chase them away from the woman.

Berens was then taken to the hospital, with about 40 puncture wounds on her torso, arms and legs. She needed several stitches, a couple of staples and antibiotics, but she said she was not worried about what had happened, as she was probably aware of the risks of working with wild animals.

The woman is expected to go back to work as early as Monday.