Brave Gwanda Man Fights Off A Leopard After It Attacks Him While Relieving Himself

Local National

A BRAVE Gwanda man is singing praises to his ancestors after he escaped the jaws of death on Tuesday afternoon when he was attacked by a leopard while relieving himself in the bush.

25 year old James Chauke is currently nursing wounds he sustained during the fierce battle with the beast.

Narrating his ordeal, James, who is admitted to Gwanda Provincial Hospital, told H-Metro that he thought he was going to die after the big cat ambushed him.

 

“Kukurukura hunge wapotswa. It was around lunch time yesterday (Tuesday) when I was working at a plot close to a dense forest.

 

“I went to relieve myself. I saw some impalas and other animals and didn’t realise that they were being hunted by a leopard. I was among the animals and never thought there was a dangerous animal,” he said.

“I heard growls, but I just thought they were baboons eating something. Ndakati kogudo ririkungoramba richibhonga igudo rudzii. And when I turned to look back, I saw that it was a leopard.

 

“It was already too late as it was charging at me. When it jumped at me, I grabbed its front leg. I managed to pick up a stone and bashed its mouth,” said James.

“It was a moment of life and death for me, and I just kept hitting its mouth with a stone.

 

“Yakandiruma maoko, asi ndakaramba ndichikacha mazino ayo nemaziso.”

 

James said it must have been a female leopard with cubs because he heard cries of cubs. He doesn’t remember how he got help or who took him to hospital.

Lately, human-wildlife conflict has been on the rise with most encounters involving elephants.