Leopard kills German woman in Namibia

Leopard kills German woman on Namibian TV set

A leopard not previously thought to be dangerous has killed a member of a German television crew making an episode of a popular series in Namibia, production company ndF said.

"The animal was thought to be completely docile. Some members of the team even stroked him before," a spokeswoman for ndF said on Wednesday after the deadly incident outside the former German colony's capital Windhoek last Friday.

The 46-year-old victim, who has not been named, was part of a team preparing an episode of Um Himmels Willen, or "For Heaven's Sake", a light-hearted and long-running series set in and around a Bavarian nunnery.

"He completely unexpectedly went for her throat," Ulf Tubbesing, a Namibian-German television veterinarian who owned the farm where the tragedy took place, told German daily Bild.

"I immediately ordered my farm manager to shoot the animal."

The woman died of her wounds at the scene.


Source: The Local Europe

Sad this women lost her life. These are wild animals!

There are some folks that I have run into in my travels that did not think Grizzly Bears are dangerous either. This was a family picnic that was taking place immediately beside a baited Bear Trap where a "problem Grizzly" had been targeted for removal!

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Maybe the leopard got hungry (lol). People think they can make animals into something they are not! A leopard is a predator.

This is an incident that should have not taken place...the woman's family will second guess this for a long time to come...

You cannot take for granted that a wild animal has been tamed.

Leopard Tragedy Probe Continues


DR ULF Tubessing, the veterinarian on whose farm a German woman was recently fatally attacked, has denied that he refused officials of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism access to his farm.

Last week, Environment and Tourism Permanent Secretary Dr Kalumbi Shangula said his investigating team was not allowed to enter the farm Ongof on March 16.

In a statement, Shangula said: "When the team went to Ongof, it was denied access to the farm on the pretext that the farm was private property."


Yesterday, Tubessing refuted the allegations, saying the ministry's officials had arrived at his gate without any notice and when he was not there.

According to him, they were asked to leave their contact details for him - something that they allegedly refused to do.

Tubessing yesterday broke his silence about "the terribly unfortunate incident" on March 11 when Veronika Bauriedl (46) was attacked by an eight-year-old leopard.

According to him, the leopard had not shown "a tenth of a sign of aggression" before charging. Furthermore, the woman apparently did nothing to provoke the attack.

"She didn't do anything wrong. The leopard walked up to her, jumped up and bit her without any warning sign."

The leopard tore open the woman's jugular vein. She also sustained a neck fracture during the attack.

Bauriedl was rushed to the Windhoek Medi-Clinic from the farm, some 20 km north of Windhoek.


She died a few hours later of blood loss despite several blood transfusions and surgery to reattach the vein.

Bauriedl was part of a film crew shooting a documentary on Tubessing's farm.

Khomas Deputy Commissioner Silvanus Nghishidimbwa yesterday said the Police investigation was continuing.

Once the investigation is completed, the docket will be forwarded to a magistrate to conduct an inquest.

Nghishidimbwa said at this stage, no criminal charges are being investigated.

Tubessing said he instructed his farm manager to put the leopard down immediately.


Source: The Namibian