BHOPAL: On shaky legs, its neck gouged and punctured in a dozen places, the German shepherd stared down the tiger. The big cat growled, snarled and charged again. The dog met it head-on. There was no way the tiger was getting past it.
A few feet away stood the German shepherd’s buddy, farmer Shivam Bargaiya, frozen in fear and amazement, watching his dog take on a tiger 10 times its weight. The big cat eventually gave up the unequal fight and slunk back into the forest in MP’s Umaria district, and Shivam ran towards his saviour, who still stood on tottering legs, glowering at the tiger until it disappeared into the night. Only then did it sink into the ground, panting its last breaths.
For hours, Bentho, the German shepherd, clung to life but its wounds proved fatal.
“I owe my life to Bentho. I had heard that German shepherds are loyal, Bentho gave up its life for me,” said Shivam.
Ten years ago, Bentho was a cub when Shivam brought it into his household. Wherever the farmer went, Bentho followed – from morning and evening walks, to night-outs guarding crops in the field.
Shivam lives in Bharhut, a village of less than 250 households, near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, around 500km from Bhopal. This is where a Buddhist stupa was discovered in 1873.
Shivam and Bentho were guarding his fields when the tiger emerged from the forest around 4am, he said. “I could see the tiger in stalking mode, coming towards me. I was petrified. But Bentho never hesitated. Barking furiously, it charged at the tiger,” said Shivam.
The tiger seemed startled, as it hesitated. But it tore into the German shepherd with its fangs and claws, said Shivam.
Loyal dog forced tiger to retreat, but dies of injuries
The dog didn’t stand a chance, but it stood its ground.
Shivam saw the tiger sink its canines into the dog’s neck repeatedly but Bentho clawed back fiercely.
The tiger clamped its jaws on its neck and began dragging it back towards the forest but the dog kept fighting until the tiger let go.
For a moment the big cat stood, as if perplexed and exhausted, and then retreated into the jungle.
Shivam scooped up Bentho in his arms and rushed to a veterinarian in Umaria town, 25km away.
“I found him at my doorstep around 5 am, cradling a badly injured German shepherd. ‘Save him, he saved my life,’ he pleaded with me,” said vet Akhilesh Singh. “I asked him how it got mauled so badly, and he said the dog saved him from a tiger,” he added.
“I tried my best but its injuries were very severe. The tiger’s fangs had dug deep into its neck, and its claws had ripped into the dog,” said Singh.
Bentho died a few hours later.
