‘He was my child’: Gujarat doctor heartbroken after pet dog dies trying to save his staff from a leopard

For two-and-a-half years, Nectar had been like a child to Dr Vishal Patel of Gujarat’s Navsari district. Every evening, after the doctor returned to his mango orchard from the hospital, he would play with Nectar – those were among his most blissful moments after a long day with patients.

On Monday (July 13) night, the doctor lost this child – his beloved Nectar was killed by a leopard that had entered the mango orchard.

The beautiful black-and-brown German Shepherd had gone down fighting the animal it saw as a threat to three of the doctor’s employees who were sleeping in cots nearby.

Dr Patel’s mango orchard is in Godhwani village of Chikhli taluka in Navsari district. On Tuesday, the doctor, who runs a hospital in Vansda taluka of the same district, was informed by caretakers of the orchard that Nectar had been killed by a leopard the previous night.

The caretakers – three young men employed by the doctor – told him that they had been asleep with Nectar on guard, tied to one of the cots. It seems the leopard had approached the sleeping men, and Nectar had leapt instinctively to their defence.

“Nectar was tied with a chain to the cot in which one of the workers, Krunal Patel, was sleeping. The leopard came out from a nearby agricultural field and crept up to the cots. Nectar spotted the wild animal, and challenged it, barking furiously,” Dr Patel told The Indian Express.

“Nectar’s barking woke up all three caretakers, and they witnessed the ferocious battle between Nectar and the leopard. They managed to get away to a safer place, but the leopard slashed at Nectar, leaving him with deep wounds before it escaped in the darkness,” Dr Patel said.

Story continues below this ad

Nectar sustained lethal injuries in his ribs and chest, where the leopard tore out chunks of his flesh. “Had Nectar not been there, the lives of all three caretakers, Ketan Patel, Krunal Patel, and Haresh Bhoya, would have been at risk,” Dr Patel said.

The South Gujarat districts of Navsari, Surat, Tapi, and Dangs are leopard territory, with a large population of the wild cats living in close proximity to human habitations. Apart from a very small part of South Gujarat that is part of the protected Vansda National Park, Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, and Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, much of this hilly, forested terrain is a “shared” human-leopard landscape.

Around 70% of Navsari district is farmland, and the sugarcane fields serve as classic leopard habitat. Leopards are highly adaptable creatures and excellent survivors that have evolved to live close to humans because of the easy availability of prey such as livestock and domestic pets such as dogs, and food in garbage dumps.

Although humans are not naturally at risk of leopard attacks, fatalities do occur on occasion – in this same Chikhli taluka of Navsari in October 2023, a woman was reported to have been killed in a leopard attack after she stepped out of home at night. Another woman was attacked in Navsari in September 2024 after she approached a leopard to make a video. In January this year, a 4-year-old child was mauled to death by a leopard in neighbouring Dangs district.

Story continues below this ad

Following the attack in the mango orchard, Dr Patel informed the Forest Department. Kishor Patel, the Forest Officer at Chikhli, told The Indian Express, “On receiving the report, we reached the mango orchard and found the pug marks of a leopard. We talked to the owner Dr Vishal Patel, who shared the story of his pet dog Nectar’s battle with the leopard.”

Kishor Patel said Forest officials had also seen the injuries suffered by the German Shepherd in the fierce fight with the big cat.

“We have seen the injuries on the body of Nectar, and it is confirmed that there had been a brutal fight between the two animals. We have laid a cage and hope to catch the leopard. We have also advised Dr Patel to take extra care and to not allow his caretakers to sleep in an open place,” the Forest officer said.

Dr Patel remains heartbroken. “Nectar was not my dog, but my child. I had got him from a pet shop when he was only 2 months old. We kept him at our home, and my family members had developed a deep attachment with him. For the past few months we had kept Nectar at our mango orchard.

Story continues below this ad

Every day, after finishing my daily routine of attending to patients in my hospital, I would go to the orchard to play with him,” Dr Patel said.