Israeli man captures leopard with bare hands caught trying to eat his cat

[mord]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3405509,00.html

Man catches leopard in bedroom with bare hands


Leopard chases cat into sleeping couple's bedroom, husband awakes, catches leopard with bare hands, saving his beloved cat

Anat Bereshovsky Published:  05.28.07, 13:20 / Israel News 




A Negev resident woke up early Monday morning to find a leopard in his bedroom.

 

The wild animal had been chasing Arthur Damush's beloved cat around the house, and when the two animals entered his bedroom, Damush did not hesitate, and knew exactly what he had to do.
 

The Midreshest Ben-Gurion resident instinctively jumped out of his bed and caught the wild creature with his bare hands.

 

In the past two weeks residents of the area noticed that cats were slowly disappearing, and occasionally spotted the leopard sneaking between houses. This time, however, the leopard decided to pay the Damush household a visit.

 

Raviv Shapira, head of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority's southern district, told Ynet, "Around 3 am, a cat ran into the house, with the leopard chasing after him. The two animals lunged into the bedroom.

 

"The homeowner who was sleeping with his wife woke up and yelled: 'Leopard!', and at first thought he was seeing things. When the leopard used its teeth to grab the cat by its neck, the homeowner pounced on it and caught it with his hands."

 

Shapira added that this was the first time he had ever encountered a leopard entering a home.




The leopard. Photo: Amram Tsabri, Israel Nature and Parks Authority

 

After catching the animal, Damush told his wife to call their neighbor, Yossi Sinai, a Nature and Parks Authority inspector.
 

"The wife called me and she was very nervous and asked me to come over," Sinai said. "We arrived at the house, and saw Damush holding 
the leopard with his hands. We took over from that point. The fact that Damush was able to overpower the leopard is outstanding."
 

The leopard was taken for medical examination in order to determine if it had any diseases and to find out what caused it to get so close to the houses. A transmitter was fixed to the leopard in order to provide information on its whereabouts at all times.
 

The cat was lightly wounded and Damush, who was slightly scratched, was also taken for testing.

[Ehud]

Haha, just saw this story on the Israeli news.  It was on the first page of the NYTimes too!  Apparently the giant cat was so weak, which is why it left its natural habitat to prey on easier animals such as dogs and cats.  That cat would have been toast if it wasn't for the brave actions of its owner.  I definitely would have done the same thing to save my cat!  They did tests on the leopard and found that it had worms in its stomach too, which is why it was so starving and weak and easy for the man to control.  If he didn't pounce on him and pin him down, the cat probably would have died in a matter of days.  He saved two cats at once, what a guy!  The population of leopards in the Negev is reaching a critical point, they are almost extinct.  It is believed that there are only 15-18 leopards in all of the Negev, so it's a good thing that this leopard was saved.  Hopefully the publicizing of this story will develop a greater awareness to make more efforts to save the dwindling leopard population.