Leopard Tamer

Did you see the story today about a man in Jerusalem who wrestled a leopard to the ground in his underwear?

Man subdues leaping leopard

He was in bed in the middle of the night with his cat and his little daughter (frightened, apparently, by a mosquito), when a leopard decided it was a good time to leap through his open bedroom window.

If I were his daughter, I’d settle for the mosquito.

But my favorite part of the story is that this man, Arthur Du Mosch, is actually a full-time nature guide. This smells like a publicity stunt to me.

I mean, let’s look at all the different things that had to line up:

- his daughter must be in the bedroom with him, so he can save a small child
- his cat must be in the room, to show he knows cats
- his window must be open
- a leopard must LEAP THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW for no apparent reason
- he must be able to wrestle it to the ground. I think for a human to do this the leopard must first agree to cooperate.

I’ve never actually hired a nature guide, but in my head I imagine it works something like picking up a taxi, where a bunch of them line up and try to get you to pick them first. Imagine going through the line-up to find your nature guide:

First guide: Buddy! I can show you the rare pigmy swallows, I know just where they nest!

Second guide: I wrestled a leopard to the ground with my bare hands in the middle of the night.

I know which guide I’d pick.