Eleven years after spending the night above an eight-foot crocodile, former Zimbabwean cricketer Guy Whittall escaped a leopard attack. He was saved by his pet dog who intervened at the right time.
Guy Whittall woke up one morning in September 2013 at the Whittall family’s game reserve in Zimbabwe, the Humani Ranch. He spent some time sitting barefoot on the edge of the bed before heading to the kitchen.
Shortly afterward, he heard a terrified cry from a domestic help: a 165-kg, eight-foot Nile crocodile had been seen beneath Whittall’s bed. “After a bit of wrestling,” Whittall and his associates released the crocodile back into the wild.
Whittall now has two tales to tell, something most people do not live to tell. He was attacked by a wounded leopard on April 23, and if his dog Chikara hadn’t stepped in, things could have gotten much worse.
“Whittall was stabilised at Hippo Clinic by wonderful staff,” wrote his wife Hannah Stooks Whittall on Facebook. “He was then airlifted from Buffalo Range by Ace Ambulance to Harare, then transferred to Milton Park Hospital for treatment.”
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Whittall, who lost a significant amount of blood, underwent a surgery on April 25. Chikara will also be brought to the veterinary team following his or her “mauling by the leopard.”.
Whittall played 46 Tests for Zimbabwe between 1993/94 and 2002/03, and had 2,207 runs at 29.42 and 51 wickets at 40.94.
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