FILABUSI – A 54-year-old Filabusi man narrowly escaped death last week when he was attacked by a leopard in Matabeleland South’s eSiboza area.
The fierce cat pounced on Fairchild Sibanda at around 2pm when he had gone into the bush to drive his cattle back home.
He was in the company of an unnamed male counterpart and his two dogs.
Sibanda ran into trouble when he followed his dogs to investigate after they started fiercely barking at something.
He thought the dogs were barking at baboons that were attempting to attack his cattle.
When he got to where the dogs were, a leopard pounced on him and bit his left leg.
Sibanda fought to keep the leopard off his throat.
He kept screaming for help.
His counterpart came and stoned the predator forcing it to run into the nearby bushes.
Sibanda’s wife said, “I was called around 2pm by the man who was accompanying my husband told me to look for transport urgently to take my husband to Filabusi hospital.”
It is rare for leopards to attack humans, but injured leopards and those that frequently raid livestock have been known to do this.
It turned out the predatory animal was feeding on one of the herd’s calves.
“The leopard was feeding on one of the calves. I presume that’s why it became so violent,” Sibanda’s wife further said.
The incident follows the continued loss of livestock to wild animal attacks in what has forced villagers to patrol the area day and night to guard against further losses.
The attack on Sibanda follows an almost similar incident in Bulilima district in which one villager Gift Moyo, 24, was saved by his seven dogs after a leopard lunged at him from a tree.
