Caught on camera: Greedy snow leopard eats so much he can’t walk!

Sometimes your eyes are just too big for your belly. That’s what happened to this little guy who ate so much, he couldn’t even run away.

The snow leopard broke into a sheep pen in the Rutog County area of China and was captured by the herdsmen afterwards. Staff from forestry department was able to follow the big cat, as he lumbered around the pen, so stuffed he couldn’t quite make the jump back over the fence to escape. Eventually, he gave up and lay down for a little post-dinner snooze.

Snow leopards are extremely rare, even more so than giant pandas, and are one of the most highly protected animals in China. They’ve been listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

This chap was just under one and a half metres in length and weighed around 100 kilograms, but they can get much bigger than that.

Once officers managed to get him moving again, he was released back into the wild to recover.  

Difficult words: eyes are just too big for your belly (when someone or something eats too much food), pen (enclosed area for animals), lumber (to move slowly), stuffed (completely full), snooze (short light sleep), species (kind of an animal), chap (man).