How a dog survived night in a toilet with leopard in Karnataka

Now, dog Bollu has a formidable reputation among the mongrels of Bilinele village in Dakshina Kannada, having survived a night and day with a leopard in a toilet, at the end of which he walked out while the leopard darted through the roof. And the dog survived the horror. Jayalakshmi, the owner of the house, was at her relative’s on Tuesday night, when the leopard likely strayed in from the adjacent Kombaru reserve forest. Early Wednesday morning, a family member saw the stout tail of the leopard through the toilet door. Without skipping a beat, she locked the door and went on to call forest officials. What bystanders captured through the toilet window was intriguing: the leopard curled into a corner, and diagonally opposite was Bollu, each apparently having marked their territory in captivity. The house belongs to late Venkappa Gowda of Moolemane in Kaikamba. “It is located adjacent to Kombaru forest. The leopard may have entered human habitation chasing the dog at night. And while the dog took shelter in the toilet, the leopard probably followed it,” said Subrahmanya Range RFO HT Raghavendra. The two remained closeted, in a space barely 3 feet by four feet, until 1.45pm on Wednesday when the big cat made a dash for it. Through the morning, forest officials placed two layers of nets on the asbestos sheets that served as the toilet roof and got permission to dart the animal.