LEONARD NDZHUKULA and SHARON HAMMOND, Nelspruit | Friday 10.00pm.
THE leopard that attacked six Northern Province villagers in Huntington village near Hazyview on Wednesday was in a healthy condition, but had not eaten for four or five days before the attack, the state veterinarian at the Kruger National Park, Dr Dewald Keet, said on Friday.
The young male cat had been rejected from its mother’s territory, he said. “I suspect that the leopard was afraid to face the world alone and to have to fight a bigger male leopard for territory.”
The leopard attacked two brothers cycling to work at Sabi Sabi game reserve and then leapt onto a bakkie that stopped to investigate the abandoned bicycles. The driver of the bakkie, Tinos Mkansi, 49, managed to stab the leopard to death with a screwdriver after a 20-minute fight, but not before it bit his left arm and injured three other people in the back of the vehicle.
Dr Keet praised the men for being able to survive the attack. “These people were so brave, it’s an amazing achievement. In fact I never heard of anything like it before,” he said.
Nelspruit Private Hospital spokesperson Elsabe Coetzee said that one of the cyclists, Santos Chauke, 31, had not lost his eyes, as his brother, Reason Chauke, 28, first reported. “But his eyes are so swollen you can’t even see them and I think he can hardly see at all,” she said.
Reason Chauke and Mkansi are in a satisfactory condition at Matikwane Hospital near Hazyview, as is another bakkie passenger, Lawrence Sihlangu, who was bitten on his face, neck and torso. Two other bakkie passengers were treated for scratches and small bite wounds before being released. — African Eye News Service