Hilux 4x4 Forum

Douglas Austin says:
July 7, 2015 at 10:07 am

Hi Everyone – I witnessed this unfortunate incident and there are some factual matters that need to cleared up for everyone to make a balanced decision. The guide’s actions have been, in my view, totally mis-reported and he should in fact be given all the praise he deserves for saving the lives of his guests.

Here’s how it happened.

1. Before the video started rolling, the leopard walked across the road (from the passenger side) in front of the landrover that was parked viewing it. Without any provocation at all, it suddenly jumped right into the front of the vehicle without even touching the bonnet. Can you imagine the shock of this happening? There was, as one can imagine, complete chaos in the vehicle.
2. The guide wrestled the animal out of the vehicle saving both himself and his guests from a certain mauling in the very least in what I believe to be a very courageous manner.
3. However, when the guide tried to get the leopard out of the vehicle, it bit onto his arm and would not let go – at which time the video started to roll……hence the mis-interpretation of the events.
4. At no stage at all was the guide “hanging his arm out of the vehicle” to “attract the leopard” as it would not have been able to see his arm because it approached the vehicle from the passenger side across the front at which point it jumped into the vehicle.
5. Once he had been assisted by the visitor in the Hyundai to get the leopard to release his arm he immediately reversed his vehicle away from the dangerous situation as we all can see in the video to take both himself and his guests away. All of this with a badly injured arm and a leopard chasing him.
6. Unfortunately, once he got to the top of the hill, his path backwards was blocked by an approaching vehicle.
7. Knowing his path both forwards (as we were all parked on the narrow road ahead of him blocking that exit) and backwards was blocked, with the leopard attacking them he had no choice but to try and stop the leopard by any means possible, which he duly did. Had he been on a walking safari with a rifle I would assume the guide would have had no choice to shoot the animal to save his guests and himself.
8. The Hyuandai driver who drove also over the leopard obviously applied his mind to the situation correctly if one considers that the leopard could well have gone back down the road and attacked the vehicle and its occupants again.

Sadly, the cause of this incident should probably be attributed to all of us who visit Game Parks such as this. Through our actions and eagerness to see the animals, we put them under undue stress.

Perhaps we need to be more thoughtful and respectful of the animals’ space when we visit these places to prevent such incidents occurring?

Hectic!