Courtney Stodden is shrugging off a bloody injury she suffered leaving a restaurant ... telling TMZ it's nothing compared to the pain mistreated animals endure.

We got the media personality and model Friday in Los Angeles and our photog asked her about her bloody incident the night before.

Courtney says she was leaving a restaurant when she dropped her phone, did a bend and snap to pick it up, and gashed her head on the hostess stand ... causing blood to rush out of the wound.

She says she was rushing to an eyelash appointment in preparation for a PETA appearance the following day ... and she took a detour to the ER to get stitched up.

It sounded and looked super painful ... but Courtney says that's a drop in the bucket compared to the mistreated animals she speaks up for.

Check out the clip ... Courtney's powering through for PETA.