Watch: When a meal becomes a workout

A leopard in the Londolozi concession in the greater Kruger National Park gave playing with its food a new meaning.

Initially, the dead nyala was hanging in the top of a tree, above the big cat, which was caught on video by 47-year-old Ute Sonnenberg, who was on a game drive.

She told LatestSightings.com that the cat was lying in the grass at the bottom of a tree below the nyala kill. “We waited to see if he would [go] up the tree to feed. After a while, he went up the tree and started pulling on the kill. We realised that the nyala’s leg was hooked on a branch and he couldn’t move it.”

And thus began a workout that stunned those watching.

Sonnenberg said that despite the leopard’s best efforts, it was unable to free the buck. “…It was only moments before he came tumbling down to the ground. We were all stunned, excited, and in awe…”

She said they went back to the lodge because it looked like the leopard was going to give up.

“… [We] came back in the afternoon; he had lifted the free part of the kill to another branch and was feeding; we also came back the next morning. The kill was finished and he was resting in the grass.”