Leopards in the Night

Published in 1955, this is a collection of individual stories from Guy Muldoon about his time in the Agricultural Department in Nyasaland (a British Protectorate from 1907 to 1953, when it became a part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now part of Malawi).

Although he was an Agricultural Assistant, he undertook control of animals who were threatening the villagers or their crops. Later he worked for the Department of Game, Fish and Tsetse Control, where he was mandated more to undertake animal control.

The individual chapters cover all the expected African animals, and a few others. Lions and leopards take a larger proportion of the chapters, due to the number of ‘instances' Muldoon needed to deal with. Elephants, crocodiles, hippopotamus, pigs and baboons make up the others, to a total of 16 stories.

Muldoon shows an intimate understanding of the habits of the animals he is required to hunt. He is at pains to explain that once these wild animals develop into man-eaters, or learn to raid the villagers gardens there is little can be done to deter them. It is a necessary part of the Government's role to protect the villages and balance the animal numbers, culling only when necessary. Another deals with some problems elephants displaying some strange behaviour, which it is eventually discovered to caused by poaching in a nearby reserve. In another he adopts some baby Leopards which eventually end up in Johannesburg Zoo.

The writing is straight forward, but Muldoon does a good job of explaining things. It works well as short stories, reading a chapter here and a chapter there - which is how I read it. As a continual narrative it would perhaps repeat itself a bit much.

4 stars.