This is the touching and dramatic moment a buffalo mother waited beside the tree where a leopard had hoisted her calf, hoping for a miracle that would let her reclaim her child!
We obtained a ting of a leopard that had recently been killed last week during the long weekend. But this was a unique killing! It’s not every day that we hear of a leopard murdering a buffalo. Even though this was a newborn buffalo, the leopard’s ability to avoid the herd, which is renowned for rescuing its loved ones, was a highly uncommon sighting in and of itself.
The leopard was seen dragging the buffalo calf across the road.
The mother of the buffalo calf, however, did not give up until the leopard carried the corpse across the road. She spent most of the day standing by the tree, hoping for a miracle.
Yves Strybos sent in this video. He gives us the following story:
“As we got closer to the sighting, we observed three hyenas and the frightened female buffalo.” I first assumed she was hurt and that the hyenas were following her. When we came to a complete halt, I glanced up to see the big Gomondwane male leopard with the newly slain buffalo calf. The leopard maintained his paw hard on the corpse so it didn’t fall out of the tree while the mother buffalo circled it constantly. The buffalo mother is hoping to reclaim her child. He leapt down from the tree afterwards to avoid the female buffalo and returned later in the afternoon to devour his meat peacefully.