Images: Koos Fourie/Caters News
This is the story of the heart-stopping moment a warthog mother had her baby snatched by a hungry leopard and how the heroic mother did something amazing to save her piglet.
Using its noted stealth ability, the leopard silently stalked a group of warthogs, going completely unnoticed until the moment it jumped out of the bushes. The large feline swiftly pounced on one of the warthog piglets, sinking its teeth into the youngster’s neck.
A leopard bites a baby warthog around the neck.
“The leopard was trying to pin her potential kill to the ground and the piglet was screaming and kicking to try and get away from the leopard,” the photograpger, Koos Fourie, told reporters.
The mother had a choice: flee to safety, or heroically risk her life in a last-ditch attempt to save the piglet. She chose the latter.
The warthog mother heroically charges at the leopard, which sends it and the baby warthog flying into the air.
Desperate to save her baby, the mother warthog charged full force at the leopard, causing it to lose its grasp on the piglet. The leopard was sent flying into the air.
Photographer Koos Fourie captured these incredible images while on a safari with his family at Kruger National Park, South Africa.
“The mother came running back from behind my vehicle at full speed dropping her head and hit the leopard in the ribcage,” Koos said.
Triumphant, the baby warthog escapes due to its mother’s quick thinking.
The brave mother then chased the leopard away and escaped with her baby, leaving the leopard with its pride dented and stomach empty.
“She has put her own life at risk to save her baby’s life” photographer Koos Fourie said.
“I was very excited and fortunate to have photographed the very special occurrence in the bush.”
Watch the video below to see a similar sighting, except this time the leopard succeeds.
