This is the brutal moment 5 hungry hyenas corner and eat a zebra with broken back feet alive while it tries its best to escape the predators.
This ruthless sighting was captured by 28-year-old, guide/manager at Royal Safaris, Matthew Roach, while on a sunset game drive with his guests in Kruger National Park.
Matthew tells LatestSightings.com the story: “It was a good afternoon out on my usual sunset/night drive. I had six guests with me that day and another safari vehicle with a guide following close by. We had spent the afternoon slowly making our way to a leopard that had been hanging around for the past few days in hopes that we might find her and her cub.”
“We were lucky enough to find her and spend 10 minutes with her before moving on. Unfortunately, her cub was not around. As we left the sighting a vehicle approached us and told us there were hyena blocking the road ahead. We went to investigate! As we drove around the first corner, we spotted five hyenas cornering a zebra in the road – they were not allowing it to leave.”
“Immediately we noticed the zebras back legs had both been severely damaged. The zebra couldn’t run or kick properly anymore – it was defenceless. We all knew it was not looking good for the zebra. It was really sad to see such a beautiful animal in such a state of panic. However, from what we saw, the zebra put up a good fight. Unfortunately, the numbers were stacked against the zebra from the beginning. It was a conflicting sighting as it was special to see a unique kill, but at the same time, it was very depressing to watch the hyenas eat the zebra alive.”
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“The sightings ended with more hyena joining to feast on the zebra. The hyena eventually pulled out the insides of the zebra. After 45 minutes of watching, we all decided as a group that we had seen enough. We drove back to camp to go and have dinner.”
“The only reason we stayed as long as we did was because it was some of my guests first ever game drive. I explained that this sighting could be a once in a lifetime sighting although it was tough to watch. As a guide for the last 7 years, I knew this was a sighting I would not stumble upon again any time soon. Unfortunately, it was a very graphic kill, but we always have the choice to watch or not. Luckily, this sighting was extremely quiet as the noises can be quite disturbing. I always tell my guests that if it is too much we can always leave.”
