I have its M.O. now. It likes the cover of darkness, feels safe in yards that are fully walled in from outside prying eyes, victims that are alone and it attacks from above and behind going for vital organs and surprise it overcomes its prey…..
This may sound like a crime scene from Dexter but in fact is a real problem which I seriously have to address. The night stalker is a young leopard that has taken a taste for the plentiful dog population of Kasane.
It’s been 8 days since my personal dog Minnie was attacked in my back yard. She was lucky and has survived due to prompt medical attention and scaring the leopard away.
Others have not been so lucky. On the weekend a dog was taken just 3 blocks away. National parks were prompt to put out a trap. I was called early on Monday morning to attend to the leopard they had captured. As I shook my sleepy head in disbelief that it had been so easy to catch and went to investigate. In the well camouflaged cage I found a huge female Hyena had been caught. She had made so much noise no one would go near the cage to examine her. We released the poor thing.
At 10:30 this evening I get a call from a panicked neighbor. The stalker had attacked again. Throwing on my clothes and grabbing some towels and a flashlight I rushed to the house 2 blocks away. The Dog was down and howling in pain. A huge wound was visible on its spine.
We rushed him to the clinic where I started an IV, pumped shock drugs into him. To no avail the heart stopped, after intubation and CPR, 3 injections of adrenaline into the heart, I gave up. Spinal shock is often the cause of fatal injury. The poor owner was overcome with grief. This is a part of my profession I always have a hard time dealing with.
So now to the task at hand to capture and relocate this leopard. I thank many of you that have given me invaluable advice especially Hendrik from Compass track safaris that has huge experience in this field. I have already IR cameras out to try and see when and where this cat is coming into my yard but have not had success yet. I’m sure it will be back.
This is not an easy task and I assume many more dogs will succumb before it’s over with. Tomorrow I will have the community PA system warn the population of the danger in the hope that they will keep their dogs and children indoors after dark. I shudder to think what it would do to a child……
Baits will be hung and traps will be set. I assure you every effort will be taken to trap this animal. I just hope some trigger happy individual doesn’t start shooting wildly in the middle of the night and kills or injures one of his neighbors.
This is a classic Human wildlife conflict….
Never a dull moment.
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| MINNIE FULLY RECOVERED |
