This was the utterly cruel moment a leopard shows no mercy while hunting a serval - despite the serval's every attempt to escape. This sighting took place in Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.
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Predators in the wild often have to compete for food sources and territory. Leopards are far bigger in size than servals and have a better advantage when it comes to hunting. However, one will never fully understand why animals do what they do. Servals would be no competition for leopards in the wild, but this female obviously thought differently and took this serval cat out.
26-year old, private photographic safari guide Valentin Lavis from Le Guide Safari shares this heart-breaking tale with LatestSightings.com:
"My guests and I were on our first-morning safari in Masai Mara. After spotting some lions resting on rocks in the southern part of the reserve, we decided to make our way down to the Sand River bordering Serengeti in Tanzania."
"Just before stopping for our breakfast, we spotted a female leopard on the hunt. At first, she spotted some reedbucks in the tall grass - but suddenly changed her mind and started stalking something in the dense bushes. We decided to give her enough space to ensure we do not reveal her presence - hoping that she will be successful."
"For most of my guests, it was their first safari in Africa and it's never easy to witness a cruel moment like this."
Serval desperately tries to escape leopard's powerful jaws
"Within a second she attacked her initial target, which was a serval cat. I only had a very short time to grab my camera to catch a glimpse of the hunt, before she managed to catch her prey. In the panic of the attack, we noticed that there was in fact another serval running away in the opposite direction of the leopard. It would seem that these 2 servals were potentially mating when the leopard attacked."
"The female leopard caught the male serval by his neck after he fell down and never released him again. Thereafter the poor serval was in terrible agony for quite a bit. He tried his best to escape this predator, but sadly by the end had lost the battle in the powerful jaws of the leopard."
"This sighting was by far one of the toughest I have had to witness in my life, but this is how Mother Nature operates...Only the fittest survives."
"As difficult as it can be to witness Mother Nature's cruelty, one must never try to intervene. Always respect the animals' boundaries and try to give them enough space, so that you don't have any influence on the sighting whatsoever."
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