JAMU the Orphaned Leopard | movie | 2002 | Official Clip
Documentary about the trials and tribulations of rearing Jamu, an orphaned leopard cub in the Luangwa Valley. Jamu was o | dG1fZXpsUS1tSTVsUkE
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 Wildlife filmmaker, John Varty,
00:04 was preparing to release a young leopard back into the wild.
00:07 The cap had only one thing standing
00:10 between her and freedom.
00:12 She needed to learn to hunt.
00:14 But JV worried that despite her natural instinct,
00:18 her lack of experience could lead to disaster.
00:21 - When you do this kind of project,
00:23 you walk a very fine line.
00:25 On the one hand, you want your leopard to gain experience.
00:28 On the other hand, if you get it wrong,
00:30 you can have a dead leopard and no project.
00:33 So one morning she goes out
00:34 and starts to stalk a herd of zebra.
00:36 Now zebra are not really known as a dangerous prey animal.
00:40 - A zebra stallion will use well-placed kicks
00:43 and vicious bites when defending his herd
00:45 against hunting predators.
00:47 - The herd stallion whipped around,
00:50 took one look at the size of this leopard,
00:52 said, "This leopard can't do anything to me.
00:55 I'll attack it."
00:57 Unfortunately, she ran for her life.
00:59 The stallion was right on her
01:00 and he was chopping with his front feet.
01:02 And at one moment I thought, "This is the end of my leopard."
01:05 So I fired shots in the air.
01:06 - In a split second, the leopard's agility saves her life.
01:11 - It looks quite humorous now,
01:18 but I can assure you at that moment,
01:20 if that zebra had caught her with a hoof,
01:22 he would have broken her spine.
01:24 - The cat's lack of experience almost got her killed.
01:27 - You would think that experience
01:29 would have taught her a whole lot.
01:31 Well, apparently she didn't learn that much.
01:34 Within a few days,
01:37 she's out stalking the local territorial puku male.
01:41 - Puku antelope may look small and dainty,
01:44 but males carry up to 21 inches of strongly ridged horns,
01:48 perfect defense weapons.
01:50 - So out she goes into a game of cat and mouse,
01:53 life and death, the puku's trying to stab her.
01:55 She jumps away, dances away, circles the puku.
01:59 Again, I'm in two minds.
02:01 Should I fire shots or should I let it go?
02:04 One stab from that puku's horns
02:06 would have been the end of the leopard.
02:08 And on two or three occasions,
02:10 the shots show that the horn was virtually right through her.
02:13 It was just her agility at the last minute which saved her.
02:17 (electronic music)