A pet dog named Tommy had the fright of its life when it was dragged away by a leopard in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district on the night of July 1. The dog, however, managed to survive the jaws of death and scurried back to its owner's house unharmed. The chilling incident occurred at the residence of Sathish in Padukonaje village in Dakshina Kannada district.
The incident was caught on CCTV, the visuals of which showed a leopard inside the compound of the residence, stalking a fast asleep Tommy. The leopard manages to catch Tommy around the neck in its jaws, and tries to yank him away, even as Tommy tries to struggle free.
From another angle of the CCTV footage, it is seen that Tommy managed to save himself when the leopard was crossing the compound wall. The canine scurried back to its residence safe, and later ran away scared of another attack by the leopard.
"We believe the dog escaped when the leopard was crossing the compound wall. We think that the dog slipped from underneath the leopard and fell down. The dog managed to escape the attack and ran back to the house. Even though the leopard followed it, the dog managed to run away," says Manjunath Ganiga, Deputy Range Forest Officer in Moodabidri.
Watch the video of the leopard and the dog.
The officer visited the spot and laid a trap to catch the leopard on Saturday. He said there have been several complaints about the presence of leopards in residential areas in Moodabidri.
The dog lives in a home near the school in Padukonaje village. Though he survived the attack, Tommy has not been his usual self in the last two days. "It is a stroke of luck that the dog survived, but the poor dog has not barked since the incident," Manjunath Ganiga says.
This is the second incident involving a dog and a leopard in Dakshina Kannada. Earlier in February, a dog managed to survive even though it was locked inside a toilet with a leopard for seven hours.