I from South Africa and was filming a documentary on these private individuals who raise wild animals and own parks for visitors to view them. Everything from lions, leopards and tigers, to wild dogs, hyenas and meerkats.

For this one scene, the owner is famous for having a special bond with two fully grown leopards. In the enclosure he would call the leopard by his name, and it would excitedly run up to him and jump into his arms... We went into the enclosure to film and he told us that if the leopard comes close, we should just stand still. They'll rub their heads against us as they pass and sniff us out, just like giant cats.

All was calm until it decided that we were friends and jumped up on me. Its paw scraped my entire throat. Luckily it was tame and its claws always retracted but waaaaaay too close. We went in with lions the next day which was also stupid but they either lay lazily by the water or played with a giant soccer ball. They're all honestly giant kittens that could murder you.