Seeing a dog for the first time, tigers got confused

BHOPAL: A pet dog saved his owners’ lives by holding off two tigers in a forest area of Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday evening.The couple, grazers Kunjiram Yadav and his wife Phoolwati were clawed, but thanks to the dog’s bravery they will only have the scars — and an incredible story to tell. And yes, the dog made it out alive, too.Forest officials told TOI that the couple entered the buffer zone of Kanha with their pet dog, looking for a missing cow of the village deputy sarpanch. Sunlight was waning by the time they made it to Jhangul beat in Mandla’s Bamhani Range.They had gone a few hundred metres when they came across a chilling sight — two tigers guarding their kill. Their search for the cow had ended, but the battle for their lives had begun. They told foresters from their hospital beds that the tigers kept snarling at them for some time. Then, seeing that the couple was not backing down, the tigers leapt at them.Yadav took the brunt of the initial flurry of claws, but then his pet dog jumped in. It stood between the couple and the tigers, barking furiously. Taken aback by this challenge, the tigers hesitated, Yadav told foresters. The dog charged at them, and the confused tigers stepped back, giving enough time to the couple to hobble away. To their surprise, the dog caught up with them within a few minutes.The dog apparently forced the two tigers to retreat,” forest officials told media after hospitalising Yadav and his wife. They also provided him financial help. A forest officer said the tigers were confused probably because they were seeing a dog for the first time. “Wild dogs in the jungle don’t bark. So, they may have been surprised,” he said. Yadav received several stitches for his injuries.Read this story in Bengali