A farmer in Karnataka has painted the fur of his dog to make it look like a tiger. | Representative image | Photo Credit: Twitter

Shivamogga, Karnataka: In an attempt to save their crops, a farmer in Karnataka has painted the fur of his dog to make it look like a tiger. Monkeys damaging the crop has been a cause of distress to farmers.

Srikanta Gowda, from Naluru village, Thirthahalli taluk, had seen a farmer use a tiger-like doll as a scarecrow near Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district about four years ago. He thought of getting the doll for his farm. When he placed it on his farm, he was surprised to see that the monkeys got scared and did not come to his plantation.

Two days later, he placed the doll in another area of the plantation and witnessed the same result. Though it was a good idea, Gowda realised that he could not depend on it for long.

The farmer then decided to paint his dog to make him resemble a tiger. He told the Deccan Herald that the paint was hair dye and it lasted for over a month.

JS Chidananda Gowda, another farmer from Kakkarasi village in Sorab taluk, plays the audio of a dog's bark on a speaker to scare away the monkeys from his maize field.

However, this is not the first time that dogs have been painted to look like other animals. A cafe in China painted its chow chow dogs as panda cubs and was even offering dyeing services. After a video of the dogs roaming around in the cafe had gone viral in October, the cafe was criticised for its treatment of dogs. Following the negative response, the cafe said that it would discontinue offering the dyeing services.

In July, animal rights activists in Spain were outraged after two donkeys were painted in black and white to look like donkeys for a safari-themed wedding in Cadiz, Spain.