Leopard attacks tourist in Kuiseb

[RogerFraser]

A GERMAN couple touring Namibia lived through the horror of a leopard attack in the Kuiseb Canyon yesterday morning that left Hardy Specker (61) in a critical condition.


https://www.namibian.com.na/66346/read/ ... -in-Kuiseb

News - National | 2018-04-13Page no: 5
by Adam Hartman

A GERMAN couple touring Namibia lived through the horror of a leopard attack in the Kuiseb Canyon yesterday morning that left Hardy Specker (61) in a critical condition.

Specker and Petra Windmeisser had been in Namibia for the past two weeks, and after spending time at Swakopmund, they left through the Namib Naukluft Park three days ago.

On Wednesday, they decided to overnight in the Kuiseb Canyon, about three hours from Walvis Bay.

Windmeisser told The Namibian yesterday afternoon that around 01h00 yesterday morning when Specker was closing the camper window, a leopard jumped up the side of the van and caught him by the head with its claws and mouth.

A fight for Specker's life ensued when he was hanging halfway out the window as the big cat tried to pull him out while Windmeisser was pulling from the inside.

“The struggle went on for some minutes. Hardy eventually managed to stick his fingers into the leopard's eyes, which caused it to let him go. I then managed to pull him in. There was blood everywhere,” she recalled.

Specker's scalp was torn from the skull, while his shoulder and arms were shredded. He also had a wound on his throat.

The couple stayed in their camper, too scared to do anything because the leopard had jumped on the roof at times and moved around the vehicle for the remainder of the night.

“Specker was losing a lot of blood, but he remained conscious. We screamed and made noise and used light, but the animal remained there,” she said.

Around 07h00, farmers saw the distressing scene and chased the leopard away. They managed to help the couple and summoned EMed Rescue to meet them halfway.

They were taken to the Welwitschia Private Hospital at Walvis Bay, where Specker immediately underwent surgery.

Windmeisser said they hope to leave Namibia as soon as possible for him to receive medical treatment at home in Germany.

[Richprins]

Terrible!

[Lisbeth]

That's what can happen when you camp. Strange though that a leopard attacks without being threatened. Maybe it was very hungry and was attracted by the smell of a possible meal Poor man

[Flutterby]

Horrible!

[RogerFraser]

More details from a different post.

Trans Africa Tours added 2 new photos.Like Page
6 hrs
Another Leopard attacks tourist. This time in Namibia Kuiseb Canyon.

Niel Terblanche
A leopard attacked and seriously injured a man visiting Namibia while he was camping in the Kuiseb River Canyon on the edge of the Namib Desert.
It is suspected that poachers wounded the animal in the Dorob National Park which caused the enraged leopard to viciously attack the man.
According to Mr. Wilfred Andreas, an employee of a well-known lodge in the area of Solitaire, the circumstances surrounding the attack on the visitor from Germany are very mysterious.
He said he was driving from the direction of Solitaire towards Walvis Bay when he saw an overland camping truck below the road in the gorge of the river. According to Andreas, the driver of the truck was blasting the hooter to get his attention.
“I drove towards the truck to see how I can assist and when I got to it a woman alighted from the cab. She was in a panicked state and told me what happened.”
Andreas said the woman told him that her husband was attacked by a leopard during the night. She told him that they were woken by a noise at about 01:00 in the morning and when her husband got up to close an open window near to where they were sleeping inside the truck, the enraged animal grabbed her husband and attempted to drag him outside.
“She said she grabbed her husband’s feet and pulled him back inside the vehicle. After that she closed the window and helped her bleeding husband.”
He said the man was severely injured and that the truck was covered in blood on the inside and outside.
“I drove the truck to Walvis Bay and on the way I phoned people in town to call an ambulance that could meet us on the way because the man was bleeding badly. We met the ambulance about 40 kilometres outside of town and both the man and his wife were taken straight to hospital where surgery was performed on him. The man had deep scratches on his head, neck, arms and chest.”
According to Andreas, the woman told him that they saw another vehicle close to where they were camping but after the attack when she tried to get help the car was nowhere to be found which led him to believe that poachers wounded the animal causing it to attack the tourist in an enraged state.
“The whole scene was very strange. There was blood high up on the truck close to the window and I found deep scratch marks on the aluminium body of the vehicle. The fact that the leopard attacked the man and vehicle afterwards can only mean that it was wounded by someone who shot it.”
He said when he realised that the visitor was attacked by a leopard he immediately drove towards Walvis Bay because he did not know if the animal was still in the vicinity and if it would attack again

[Lisbeth]

If the leopard was wounded it would explain why it attacked

[nan]

oups really sad story

poor man
poor Leopard too

[PRWIN]

I think this is strange, if the leopard was shot ,it would have ran away and they would have heard the shot, especially if you could see the people. Looks more like the leopard was at there camp first and they saw that it was not acting correctly then decided to leave for safety.

Reading between the lines looks like this guy saw or heard it and decided to stick his head out to get a better view.

[PRWIN]

The news report is also full of incorrect facts, making it difficult to understand that a injured leopard walked 300 km from Dorob NP to Kuiseb canyon to attack people.

Looks like half of the facts were used and others added without checking if it makes sense.

[Richprins]

Well, the British press with more!


CAUTION: Severe wounds picture




HOLIDAY FROM HELL Bloodthirsty leopard tries to drag tourist from his campervan by the head ripping his scalp to pieces

HARDY Specker was sleeping when the big cat jumped through the window and sunk it's razor-sharp teeth and claws into his head
Warning
By Jamie Pyatt
15th April 2018, 5:04 pm
Updated: 15th April 2018, 5:09 pm

A GERMAN couple on their dream holiday in Africa survived a horrific tug of war with a crazed leopard which attacked them as they slept in their campervan.

The big cat jumped through the open window of the van before trying to drag Hardy Specker, 61, out by his head using its razor sharp teeth and claws.
This photo shows the extent of Hardy Specker's horrific injuries after he was mauled by a leopard in Africa

Hardy’s life partner, Petra Windmeisser, 60, grabbed his legs and tried to wrench him to safety during the bloody attack in Kuiseb Canyon, Namibia.

Only when Hardy poked the deadly predator in the eye did it finally let go.

The brutal attack, which went on for several minutes, left him covered in blood with his scalp ripped to pieces.

Terrified Petra told The Namibian: "The struggle went on for some minutes until Hardy eventually managed to stick his fingers into the leopard's eye, which caused it to let go. Then I managed to pull him back inside.

“There was blood everywhere and he was bleeding profusely. I tried to stop the bleeding and at the same time made a phone call from our satellite phone to the emergency services to come save us. There was no reception and he was losing a lot of blood."

But the couple's horrific ordeal was not yet over.

The leopard continued prowling around the van for a further six hours until a passing tourist lodge worker rescued them and took them to hospital.

Hardy's scalp, shoulders and arms had been shredded by the leopard's claws and had a deep wound to his neck.
The attack happened while the couple were on a dream holiday to the Kuiseb Canyon in Namibia, pictured

The attack happened while the couple were on a dream holiday to the Kuiseb Canyon in Namibia, pictured
Hardy was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for his wounds

Hardy was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery for his wounds

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6058129/l ... n-namibia/


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-new ... t-12366339