A hero uncle fought a jaguar with his bare hands to save his two teenage nephews when the predator attacked them during a camping trip in Salto, Brazil.
On August 13, Erivaldo Moriman had reportedly gone on an early morning walk on the banks of a Jureana river in central Brazil – but when he came back to where his family were camping he was horrified to find the jaguar attacking his nephews, who are aged 15 and 18.
Around 50 per cent of the world’s jaguars can be found in Brazil as they are most suited to habitats close to lakes, rivers and inland wetlands.
Powered by sheer adrenaline and gut instinct, Moriman reportedly bravely shouted and waved his arms at the fierce predator in an effort to distract it and save the lives of the two youngsters.
The jaguar quickly turned its attention to Moriman and charged at the uncle before sinking her claws into his body and tackling him to the ground.
In a manic bid to survive, Moriman grabbed onto the jaguar’s leg before it bit his head, leaving the indigenous man with a huge gash and blood pouring down his face.
A jaguar has incredibly powerful jaws and sharp teeth that can bite through a crocodile skulls or turtle shells, meaning Moriman was lucky to escape with his life.
But Moriman somehow survived the vicious mauling and managed to fight off the jaguar with his bare hands in a life-or-death struggle.
He was left with a series of deep scalp wounds over his head where the jaguar had sunk its fangs in and needed 150 stitches in hospital.
Speaking of his fight for survival, Moriman told local media: ‘She dropped the boys and came at me.
‘I shouted to the boys that the jaguar was going to get me and when they looked up it had already got me.
‘I held onto her leg behind a tree trunk and kept holding on. I foolishly tried to run, and as I tried to run, she attacked again, and that’s when she got me.
‘She didn’t just scratch me; she actually bit me on the head.’
Despite being terrified, Moriman, powered by adrenaline, fought back.
He said: ‘It was very hard for us to witness this, to experience this, to embrace a jaguar. Nobody believes it, but it was true.’
After the attack, Moriman wasn’t able to be instantly rescued. Instead he had to travel for nearly two hours by boat to reach the airstrip of a private lodge, all while grimacing from the pain of his injuries.
He received first aid from a doctor who had happened to be staying there before being taken to the Albert Sabin Regional Hospital in Alta Floresta more than three hours away.
Despite his injuries, Moriman was discharged the following night on 14 August.
