The Spiti or Chamurthi ponies that were attacked by the snow leopard. One pony was killed by the cat but village dogs chased it away before it could take its kill up the mountain to its lair. Photo Gaurav Sharma.
“Saving Snow leopards” blog was recently contacted by Gaurav Sharma and his brother Vikas Gupta with the following amazing story of a snow leopard being chased away from its pony kill by village dogs.
“It was the summer of 2010 in the beautiful valley of Pin, in Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh, India. The river Pin was flowing in its full swing, bestowing the resident people and wildlife with its pure and crystal clear water.
The villagers of Pin, with their temporary stable for Chamurthi ponies were just guarding the stable with sticks and stones from the various creatures for whom Chamurthi is the best food available. One of them, is the king of the chain, the Snow Leopard. Just waiting for the sun to set, to catch hold of one of his prey, the leopard in his late age, was sitting on top of a mountain onlooking everything happening in his kingdom.
It was 4 in the morning, when all the ponies started running all afraid from the stable, saving their lives. At this moment, the king, the leopard just took a shot. Taking his prey, a small pony to the top of the mountain, the leopard seemed drunk after quenching his thirst from the blood of the small animal.
My brother and I and the local villagers saw suddenly 4 dogs. They seemed to arrive from nowhere, and start poking the leopard all over. Where did they come from, was the first question in everybody’s mind! The wild dogs, left, born, new, old, they are all over, disrupting the whole chain!! It came as a shock when one of the dogs bit the snow leopard on his thigh, which made the cat leave his kill and run off up the mountain.
It is more than just a concern, when some creatures from other kingdoms, threaten the reign of the snow leopard king!”
Thanks so much for sharing this story, Gaurav and Vikas, this is a once in a lifetime thing you guys saw. I hope the snow leopard was later able to get wild prey and not have to rely on ponies belonging to villagers.
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