Jessica Leidolph was attacked by a 16-year-old leopard, Troja, during a photoshoot for a fundraising calendar to support unwanted animals. She now has three metal plates on the right side of her face
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A model who was mauled by a leopard during a photoshoot has said she risked being killed.
Jessica Leidolph, 36, suffered facial injuries during the attack and said that if the animal had caught her carotid artery, she could have died.
She told the German newspaper Bild: “If the leopard had caught my carotid artery, it would have been over.”
However, the model asked authorities not to put down the 16-year-old leopard, Troja, that mauled her during a photoshoot for a fundraising calendar to support unwanted animals last month.
After the incident, Ms Leidolph reportedly spent two weeks in a clinic and now has three metal plates on the right side of her face from the operation.
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Her eye is also swollen and her body is covered in wounds.
She said: “I can’t put any weight on my left arm. The swollen half of my face feels like after a dental operation. I am plasticising with chopsticks so that I can eat properly again.
“When it happened, I thought: It’s over now. I know I was very lucky that I am still alive at all.”
She also said that the owner had given her a safety briefing and that the leopard was on a double lead during the photoshoot.
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The model, who regularly poses for calendars, was attacked by Troja in a retirement home for show animals in the German city of Nebra.
Jessica said the incident happened while she was sitting on a tree trunk, as she explained: “I felt a blow on my back. It happened incredibly quickly.”
After the animal’s repeated bites on her face, which led to severe bleeding, the model from the German state of Thuringia was airlifted to a hospital in the city of Halle.
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But Jessica, who will reportedly have to carry the attack scars forever, begged the authorities not to put the big cat down, saying: “I don’t want the animal to be killed, it just followed its instincts.
“It was unfortunate. I am glad there was no request to euthanise the animal.”
Jessica recalled the grievous moment when Troja, who once graced plasma screens in an advert for multinational electronics giant Panasonic, rushed towards her.
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She said: “He attacked me, I couldn’t look that fast. I was sitting by the tree trunk and all of a sudden I was lying on the ground. He bit into my cheek, ear, head, and then again and again on my head.
“And then I screamed, put my hands in front of my face. At some point, he let go of me for a moment so that I could roll away and get out of the cage. A little while later, the ambulance and helicopter were there.”
Nevertheless, Jessica who worked as an animal rights activist and a physiotherapist prior to the incident, revealed that she does not blame the 50kg (110-lb) leopard or its owner Birgit Stache, 48, for what happened.
She said: “The leopard was secured twice by its owner.”
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Jessica has been taking care of orphaned and sick animals for 16 years in her apartment in the town of Eisenberg, where she nurses swans, owls, fox cubs and hedgehogs.
She then poses with the animals and uses the money she earns from the calendars she makes to help find them a proper home.
The woman added: “I wanted to stand up for these wild animals, to draw attention to the fact that there are hardly any accommodation options for them once they have had their day. Nobody takes animals like that.”
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The police also started an investigation to determine who else was present at the photoshoot and what safety precautions were in place.
A spokesperson said: “So far, there has not been a reason, from a structural or veterinary perspective, to take action against the retirement home for show animals.”
Despite having 20 years’ experience and holding a legal licence to keep the animals, Stache, the owner, was issued a security law order by the district authorities, according to which she is forbidden to let “unauthorised third parties” inside the facility.
The authorities said that Jessica “was only injured because she was inside the cage”.
Pro Wildlife animal rights activist Katharina Lameter, 29, urged officials to “immediately give the leopard away to a specialised rescue centre”.
The investigation continues.
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