Dog protects sheep from puma attack

Thermal imaging cameras capture footage of a puma attempting to hunt a sheep in the Patagonian wilderness, saved by a pack of dogs.

A puma attacks sheep on a farm. Photo: National Geographic

In footage from National Geographic's "Animals Up Close With Bertie Gregory," viewers see dogs stop a puma from attacking a flock of sheep in the pitch-black mountains. This is the first time the behavior has been captured on camera using a temperature-sensitive camera and a drone, according to Live Science .

In the episode titled "Patagonia Puma," Gregory, a National Geographic explorer, and a camera crew set foot in the remote mountains of the Patagonia region of southern Chile. Their goal is to film the lives of puma ( Puma concolor ) and the challenges they face, including coexisting with farmers who often kill puma for livestock.

In this video , shot at a sheep farm in the middle of the night, Gregory and his colleague Sam Stewart used thermal imaging cameras and drones to observe in the darkness. At the top of a ridge, they saw a puma creeping down the mountainside, straight at the flock of sheep. The sheep were completely unaware of the puma’s presence. The puma easily jumped over the farm fence, ready to make a kill, but the dogs sensed the danger and began barking loudly. The puma had no choice but to back away and jump over the fence to retreat up the hill.

Puma hunting has been banned in Chile since the early 1980s, but it still occasionally occurs on private land. Conservation projects are working with farmers to use non-lethal means of protecting sheep, including fences, tracking collars and guard dogs such as Maremma and Great Pyrenees, strong breeds with long, thick coats suited to living in the cold climate of Patagonia.

National Geographic footage shows the dogs working effectively. “If a farmer shoots a puma, its territory is quickly overtaken by another nearby puma, and the problem continues. On one farm that used to kill 100 pumas a year, after using sheep guard dogs, the farmer only lost two sheep,” Gregory said.

An Khang (According to Live Science )

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