'Wild animals are not pets'
2008-10-02 12:25
Komatipoort - Wildlife activists have warned people not to treat wild animals like pets after a woman was attacked when she tried to touch a sick leopard she found in her garden.
The founder of Campaign Against Canned Hunting (Cach) Chris Mercer has warned that wild animals will attack when approached by human beings.
"All wild animals are inherently dangerous. We know of people being killed by both ostriches and warthogs. Leopards are especially unpredictable," said Mercer on Wednesday.
On Monday, a leopard attacked two people in the holiday town of Marloth Park in Mpumalanga, which borders the Kruger National Park and where wild animals are allowed to roam the streets.
The two people are recovering at the Nelspruit Medi-Clinic, but it was decided to put down the leopard.
Tests conducted on the leopard found that she suffered from mange and extreme hunger as her stomach was empty when a postmortem was done.
She had attacked 54-year-old Joey Labuschagne who found her in her garden.
Labuschagne's 84-year-old friend, Logan Estement, who had been visiting with his wife, rescued Labuschagne when the leopard dragged her a few feet.
He wrestled the leopard off her and was scratched on his arms and chest.
"To approach a young, starving leopard is to beg for tragedy," said Mercer.
'Irresponsible behaviour'
Marloth Park chief honorary ranger Nick FitzGerald agreed, saying it was "irresponsible and dangerous behaviour" by the people involved.
He said the animals ended up suffering the consequences for attacking people when all it was doing was "defending itself and minding its own business".
He said when he arrived at the scene on Oliphants Road, cars were seen everywhere, with people with small children standing around within 30 metres of the young frightened leopard.
"With the assistance of municipal rangers we managed to cordon the area off and tried as best we could to keep everybody at a fair distance, for their own safety," he said.
He said the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) sent their officials, who darted the leopard.
He said the officials advised that because of her dehydrated condition she was very likely to have TB.
FitzGerald said residents of Marloth Park needed to treat the animals there with respect.
"These people must respect the animals. They are living in the wild and they should not try turn this area into a circus," he said.
Medi-Clinic spokesperson Robyn Baard said on Wednesday that Labuschagne and Estement were in a stable condition.