A man was attacked by a leopard and escaped with severe injuries while he was searching for donkeys in a bushy area. Gift Moyo,24 from Dombodema area in Bulilima said the animal surprisingly pounced on him from a tree on Wednesday at around 7AM.
His seven dogs came to his rescue as they fought and drove the leopard away before the big spotted cat could cause more damage. Moyo was alone in the forest and was left bleeding from his wounds,but he managed to walk back home resting several times on the way.
He described how the animal scratched him with its paws on the head and then sunk its teeth into his left arm.
Moyo said despite the agonizing pain, he held onto the leopard’s paw and grabbed its ear in a bid to stop the vicious animal.
“I left home on Wednesday morning and headed for Sibantubanye Farm which is about 10 kilometres away in search of my donkeys.
Along the way, my seven dogs which were ahead of me started barking and growling. When Icaught up with them I could not see anything as the path was clear,” said Moyo.
He continued with his journey and after walking a few metres he heard a tree branch snap above his head.
Moyo said he then heard a growl and he was searching for the source of the strange sound, the leopard jumped to the ground.
“I was shocked and before I could recover, the leopard jumped onto my head and scratched me,grabbed me by the left arm and I fell down. The animal maintained its grip,” said Moyo.
He said he held onto the leopard’s ear and left paw as the animal continued to growl while trying to reach for his neck.
Moyo said his dogs rushed to his help and attacked the animal which quickly fled from the scene.
He said he remained on the ground for a couple of minutes as he was bleeding.
“I was in much pain but I knew that I had to get up and go back home. I staggered towards a nearby stream and washed some of the blood off my body to avoid attracting other wild animals.
I struggled to get home because I had to walk about 10 kilometres. On the way, I would stop to rest under tree shades occasionally because of the pain,” said Moyo.
Moyo was rushed to Dombodema Clinic where his wounds were sutured,and he said his two fingers were still numb as a result of the attack.
The village head, Bowel Sibanda said incidents of animal attacks on humans were not common in the area but there were isolated cases of attacks on livestock.
“People are still shocked by the incident but we hope that we will not experience a similar case again. We have advised people to exercise caution while travelling through bushy areas,” Sibanda said.