Mumbai: Attacked, stray dog chases leopard back into Aarey

The dog that fought off the leopard

Early Friday morning, just like many nights when the wild cats of Aarey stray into the human habitat in search of prey, a leopard was spotted trying to snatch a dog from outside a house. But, in a rare turn of events, the leopard was chased back into the woods by a pack of dogs.

A CCTV camera installed outside the house, which is located less than 2km away from the Metro car shed site, recorded the entire episode that took place around 2.49 am on Friday. The footage shows the leopard sneaking behind a stray dog that was fast asleep and grabbing it by the throat. A fight erupts between the two but the leopard turned out to be a timid hunter and within three seconds of the attack the feline was chased away by its prey and two other stray dogs.

A rare sight

Amit Pathak, a resident of Aarey Milk Colony, told mid-day, "Frequent sighting of leopards is common in Aarey, but the CCTV camera installed outside my friend's house captured something rare that night. We all have seen leopards hunting dogs and taking them away. The last footage, however, shows the leopard catching the dog but immediately letting go of it and running away."

Screengrab of CCTV footage shows the leopard attacking the stray dog and within a few seconds letting it go and running away

Pathak's friend, who stays in a chawl at Aarey Milk Colony, has installed five CCTV cameras around his house after a series of robberies.

Chase shocks house owner

His CCTV cameras have captured leopards strolling in the area in the past, too. The noise during the chase woke up the house owner, who then checked the footage only to be shocked by this rare event.

On October 18, mid-day did a story which mentioned how just a few days after a leopard was photographed by this paper in Aarey Milk Colony, another one was captured by a CCTV camera installed outside a house in Unit 4, proving once again that Aarey, is in fact, home to leopards.

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