2005/06/23

Cat got your...er, you got the cat's tongue?

Peasant farmer Daniel M'Mburugu was tending to his potato and bean crops in a rural area near Mount Kenya when the leopard charged out of the long grass and leapt on him.

M'Mburugu had a machete in one hand but dropped that to thrust his fist down the leopard's mouth. He gradually managed to pull out the animal's tongue, leaving it in its death-throes.

"It let out a blood-curdling snarl that made the birds stop chirping," he told the daily Standard newspaper of how the leopard came at him and knocked him over.

The leopard sank its teeth into the farmer's wrist and mauled him with its claws. "A voice, which must have come from God, whispered to me to drop the panga (machete) and thrust my hand in its wide open mouth. I obeyed," M'Mburugu said.

Having never been attacked by a leopard while attending my crops, I can't say what I would have done about it. Running would be futile, but I think that dropping the machete would also be a bad idea. Guess I was wrong about that. He must have one heck of a grip, though. I would hate to have to shake hands.

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