Dog Hunting Chital in Kabini, Nagarahole

The sequence of events below happened on 3rd March 2012 in Kabini.

As I drove past the familiar backwaters of Kabini, I noticed a spotted deer motionless near the banks of the river, around 200 m from the road near the Balle watch tower. A quick look through the binoculars and I could make out that it was injured and bleeding from its legs and a part of its neck. I waited in the same place imagining that a predator had attempted a kill and was sure that something might turn up.

After about 15 minutes I saw an orange patch inside the jungle and it initially looked like a wild dog. As it came out, it actually turned out to be a dog and to my surprise it had a chital fawn in its mouth. It was very obvious to me that this dog had attacked the deer near the banks first, injuring it very badly, and then later rushed to hunt down the fawn inside the jungle. It came out to within 10 m of the mother and began feeding. The helpless mother was motionless, looking at the fawn that had fallen prey. Looking at the adult deer’s injuries, I doubted that it would survive. As the gates closed by 6 PM, I had to move on in order to reach in time. I left the scene without knowing what had happened. I also observed 3 people standing on the bank on the other side. Balle tribal colony is around 2 kms away from this place. I did inform the Forest Guard about the incident at the Balle post.

Editor’s note: This seems to be a common scene in Kabini. See Village Dogs Hunting Chital, Nagarahole and Village Dogs with Chital Kill, Nagarahole