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