Dog saves sheep from puma attack

Footage of a cougar hunting sheep was captured by a thermal imaging camera in the Patagonian wilderness as part of a National Geographic program broadcast on September 13.

The clip was filmed as part of "Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory," a new National Geographic series that takes viewers to remote locations around the world to get up-close looks at the creatures in their everyday lives.

In the episode “Patagonia Puma,” Gregory—a National Geographic explorer—and his team visit a remote mountainous region of Patagonia in southern Chile. They’re there to document the lives of pumas (Puma concolor) and the challenges they face—including coexisting with farmers who have historically killed pumas that prey on their livestock.

In the footage, shot at a sheep farm in the middle of the night, Gregory and cameraman Sam Stewart used thermal imaging cameras and a drone that can see in the dark. On top of a ridge, they spotted a cougar crawling down the mountainside and charging straight at the sheep. “ They had absolutely no idea it was there, ” Stewart said while filming the scene.

The cougar jumped over the ranch fence and walked up to the sheep, ready to kill them, but the dogs sensed something and started barking. The cougar walked away and jumped over the fence before retreating up the hill.

Puma hunting has been illegal in Chile since the early 1980s, but it is still sometimes carried out on private land. Conservation projects are now working with farmers to use non-lethal means of protecting sheep, including fencing, tracking collars and specialist guard dogs, such as Maremma and Great Pyrenees sheepdogs, sturdy breeds with long, thick coats well-suited to the cold Patagonian landscape.

“ If the farmer’s solution is to shoot the cougars, that’s really not a good solution,” Gregory said. “If you shoot one of those cougars, their territory will quickly be taken over by another cougar, so the problem will continue. Not only are you killing the cougars, you’re not solving the problem.”

Gregory said he met a farmer who had shot cougars but realized it didn't help protect his livestock.

"He told me about a farm where they used to kill 100 cougars a year... after bringing in dogs, the farmer only lost two sheep," Gregory said.

Farmers now raise a special breed of sheepdog to protect their sheep from predators. This is Gregory's first video showing the effective method of using sheepdogs.

(Source: Tien Phong)

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