A man taking a leak almost died when he was pounced on by a hungry female leopard looking for lunch for her cubs.

James Chauke, aged 25, from the city of Gwanda, Zimbabwe, said he had decided to go to the edge of the forest so he could relieve himself in private when the attack happened on Tuesday, 10th January.

The unfortunate man who was hospitalised afterwards said he thought he was going to die when the leopard attacked him.

Speaking from hospital, he said: “It was around lunchtime yesterday when I was working at a plot close to a dense forest.

“I went to relieve myself. I saw some impalas and other animals and didn’t realise that they were being hunted by a leopard.

“I was among the animals and never thought there was a dangerous animal.”

He then continued: “I heard growls, but I just thought they were baboons eating something.”

James reportedly thought it was an owl hooting and said: “And when I turned to look back, I saw that it was a leopard.”

But it was reportedly too late for him to run away as the leopard instantly charged at him.

James said: “When it jumped at me, I grabbed its front leg. I managed to pick up a stone and bashed its mouth.

“It was a moment of life and death for me, and I just kept hitting its mouth with a stone.

“It bit my hands, but I kept battering it with the stone, hitting its teeth and eyes.”

James claimed that he remembered thinking it must have been a female leopard as he heard the cubs crying nearby, but after that, he could not remember much more.

He added he could no longer remember how he survived and whether others rushed over to save him, and has no recollection of how he was brought to hospital.