WATCH | Hyenas battle it out against leopard and wild dogs for impala kill

A group of hyenas in the Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, had the last laugh when they stole an impala kill from a pack of wild dogs and leopard recently.

In a video shared by Latest Sightings, a leopard can be seen with an impala and immediately scavengers move in to try to steal the kill. All while the impala is seemingly still alive.

The video was taken by a man called Wayne, who described the unfolding of the scene as a “jackpot”.

“This was a once in a lifetime experience. In the past, we’ve always arrived to find a leopard in a tree with a carcass or hyenas finishing off the scraps, but this time, it was like hitting the game reserve sighting jackpot,” he said.

On arrival, Wayne said he saw the leopard dragging the impala, with a single wild dog in pursuit. It wasn’t long before a pack of wild dogs arrived on the scene, bothering the leopard before it could reach a tree to get its meal up out of reach.

“The leopard managed to chase the wild dog off, but the wild dog called for the others and just before the leopard reached the tree to get its meal up to safety, away from the scavengers, the pack of wild dogs ran onto the scene and scared the leopard into the tree, leaving the impala on the ground. The impala saw the opportunity and tried to make a run for it, just before it was brought down again by the wild dogs,” said Wayne.

The wild dogs' plan to have the impala did not go as planned, however, as four hyenas entered the fight, causing further panic.

One hyena kept the wild dogs at bay while the other was enjoying the impala all to itself until a third hyena also joined in.

“The wild dogs moved off into the bush for a while as a fourth hyena also made its way to the meal but was chased off by the other three hyenas. The wild dogs returned every so often to see if they could win the meal back, but, as the minutes passed, there was less and less left of the carcass,” said Wayne.

“We only found out afterward that the dogs were about to bring the pups to the kill after dealing with the leopard, but stopped on the road not far away (out of shot) once the hyenas arrived. There were nine hyenas in total which have been tracking the dogs all week and the previous day we saw the dogs chase the hyenas away from a waterhole when the pups needed to drink.”