A British safari guide in South Africa has been admitted to hospital after a leopard attacked him in the open-top vehicle he was travelling in.
Curtis Plumb, 38, was bitten and clawed in the arm after stopping his vehicle full of tourists to watch the big cat in Kruger national park.
Grant Ford, a tourist who was travelling with his 13-year-old son, said: “The ranger peered over the side of the vehicle to see where the animal was. It was alongside him. Without warning or provocation it launched itself into the safari truck and grabbed the ranger’s arm.
“What followed was insane. The occupants of the safari truck were screaming. Some of the people seated behind the ranger tried to help by beating the animal with their cameras.”
The occupants of another vehicle rammed the leopard with a car door but it did not release its grip on the guide. Plumb reversed the vehicle and freed himself but the cat returned to attack again.
“The leopard charged after the vehicle and hunted it down. It leapt on to the bonnet of the vehicle in an apparent attempt to get to the occupants. The ranger then braked and the animal fell to the ground,” Ford said.
“Again it launched itself at the vehicle. The ranger was left with no alternative than to take it out. He drove over the animal’s hind legs. It got up clearly injured. The minivan then also went at it and drove over the leopard.”
Plumb, who has been working as a guide for four years after moving to South Africa from the UK, was taken to hospital for surgery and was said to be in a stable condition.
William Mambasa, general manager at Kruger national park said: “We would like to thank the tourist from another vehicle for his quick and decisive action as he saved the guide and tourists’ lives. It is suspected that the leopard was fighting with another one as its hind was badly injured – the other leopard was spotted in the area watching from a distance.”
The leopard was put down after the incident. Last month a lion mauled an American tourist to death at Lion Park in Johannesburg.