A two-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard, who managed to sneak inside a house where a family was a barbecue party, the horrible incident happened in the Kruger National Park.

Courtney Ntimane, a 2-year-old boy was following his father, Isaiah, back to their home when suddenly, a leopard attacked him.

35-year-old Isaiah said that he heard his son screaming, and when he went back to see him, he saw the leopard gripping his son with his jaws.

The leopard ran back to the fence that was surrounding the house while having Courtney hanging from her mouth.

After some time, the 2-year-old boy was dropped by the animal.

The animal escaped the property by jumping into a tree that it used to enter the house of the family.

The 2-year-old boy was rushed to a hospital nearby, but he was declared as dead upon arrival by the doctors.

The funeral of Courtney Ntimane will be held on Sunday at Mkhulu.

The Kruger National Park has planned to counsel for the family of the 2-year-old and added that they will help in the funeral.

Press spokesman Ike Phaahla said: “On hearing of the incident two of our rangers went out to search for the animal and it was shot dead to remove the danger of another falling victim.

The spokesman added, “There is an interaction between animals and visitors to the KNP and this may result in species like a leopard getting habituated to people and losing their fear of them. The change in natural behavior can then lead to unfortunate incidents such as this.”

An autopsy was done on the leopard after it was killed by the rangers, it showed that the leopard was healthy, was in excellent condition, had good teeth, and had no injuries before being shot.