A video by ranger Rul taken on the 24th of November 2015.
Nature can be very cruel when looking from a human perspective or from the prey’s perspective for that matter. We would all like to imagine a leopard or wild dog’s prey dying a quick and painless death and maybe even sacrificing themselves for the benefit of that cute little leopard cub that needs milk from her hungry mother. Or maybe we just prefer not to think of this as it goes against our own self righteousness of being a creature of divine intervention or it hits a little too close to home when reminded that a not too distant relative would sometimes look onto a scene like this in absolute horror when confronted with the demise of a fellow compatriot or would otherwise feel a rush of adrenalin in anticipation of a good meal.
Rul had never seen African wild dogs tree a leopard before in his 46 years of living in the bush until the morning of this sighting when the same wild dogs chased and tree’d a young male leopard just after he had killed an impala. The leopard jumped and ran from tree to tree with the dogs hot in pursuit. Great action, but a deflated and very disappointed Rul reported back to me after his game drive as he missed recording it on his video camera.
Then Rul found the dogs again during the afternoon drive as they were cruelly killing a duiker, just to have them spot and chase after a leopard that approached the scene upon hearing the distress calls of the poor duiker. This time his camera was ready. Who says that lightning does not strike twice?
Post by Robbie Prehn
