One hungry little mouse!

The extraordinary encounter between a leopond and mouse was captured by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire. The 19-year-old, from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, who was photographing the leopard for a course project, was astounded by the mouse's behaviour. 

He said: ‘I have no idea where the mouse came from - he just appeared in the enclosure after the keeper had dropped in the meat for the leopard. He didn't take any notice of the leopard, just went straight over to the meat and started feeding himself.' 

The leopard was pretty surprised - she bent down and sniffed the mouse and flinched a bit like she was scared. In the meantime, the mouse just carried on eating like nothing had happened. 

But even a gentle shove did not deter the little creature from getting his fill... ‘It was amazing, even the keeper who had thrown the meat into the enclosure was shocked - he said he'd never seen anything like it before.' 

Project owner Jackie James added: ‘It was so funny to see - Sheena patted the mouse a couple of times to try to get it away from her food.’ But the determined little thing took no notice and just carried on.' ...So the mouse continued to eat the leopard's lunch and show the leopard who the boss was.

Sheena was brought into the Santago Rare Leopard's Project from a UK zoo when she was just four months old. She is one of 14 big cats in the private collection started by Jackie 's late husband Peter in 1989.

The African Leopard can be found in the continent's forests, grasslands, savannas, and rainforests.

Hunger knows no boundaries...

The encounter between the mighty leopard and the little mouse proves that both man and animal would go to any extreme to appease their hunger pangs. While animals who are hungry and are suffering without the availability of their regular food in their natural habitats would go to great lengths to hunt for some food for themselves as well as their young, humans too, especially the extremely poor, would also break all boundaries when it comes to hunger.

There are millions of people around the world who are in dire need of food.In countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia they battle daily with hunger and sometimes watch silently as their loved one's breathe their last without a morsel of food or water to drink. This is only one side of the story...On the flip side there are many who have an abundance of food to select from and struggle to make a choice as to what they should to eat! Isn't it ironic?

We know how important food and water is for the existence of both animal and man; so we need to be more aware of the need to ensure that all living creatures have access to clean water and nutritious food. Do not turn a deaf ear to the cries of hunger no matter if it is an animal or human. Hunger pangs need to be appeased .

Perhaps the leopard realised how hungry the little mouse was and let it have its fill without causing any harm ... Otherwise what couldn't it have done to the mouse? - Miru