IT is rare to spot a leopard in the wild and even rarer to have the big cat bite and puncture your tyre. But this was the case for 38-year-old, Johann Jurgens, director of a South African tour company (SouthAfricanBookings.com). He was touring around Pretoriuskop and was near to Klipspringer Koppies with guests when they encountered a surprise visitor who took a particular interest in their tyre.
According to Jurgens, he found seven puncture marks in the tyre after the leopard bit into it.
The video uploaded to Kruger Sightings YouTube page has been viewed 84 000 times.
“I felt something bumping the car and that’s when we realized that the leopard was actually biting the tyre. What made this sighting special was that it happened at one of the busiest junctions in the southern part of the park, in the middle of the school holidays, bang on peak game drive time and there were no other vehicles in sight. Just shows you that when in the park always, expect the unexpected.
“After many years working and living in the bush I’ve never seen leopard behaviour of this nature and it just made me recall how unpredictable wild animals can be. We managed to drive away for a kilometre or two and get ourselves into an open area away from the cats to assess the damage. By the time we stopped the tyre was totally deflated. On closer inspection, we found seven puncture marks,” he explained.
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