They are the fastest creatures on Earth, reaching over 60 mph, but two cheetahs got more than they bargained for when they started killing goats belonging to Kenyan farmer Nur Osman Hassan (pictured).
Over the course of a few weeks they killed and ate 14 of his herd. When he saw them attack the 15th, it was too much.
“I was sipping a cup of tea when I saw them killing another goat,” he said, explaining that this happened at first light. He waited several hours until the sun was high and they had finished their meal to slow them down. “I called some youths and we ran after them.”
Living in a small village located in Tarabaj district in North-East Kenya, the midday temperature would have been well over 30 degrees but the four men chased them for over four miles until the two cheetahs were exhausted.
They wrestled them to the ground before tying them up and carrying them back to the village. Here they handed them over to the Kenya Wildlife Service who will relocate them to another area where they will not come into conflict with humans.
Because he reported the incident and did not kill the cheetahs, Nur Osman Hassan will now be compensated for his livestock under a scheme that encourages farmers to report such incidents rather than take the law into their own hands and kill the predators.
