Eno almost took one for the herd.

The Anatolian shepherd got into a tangle with a leopard last week.

I wrote the story about this amazing dog today.

Eno when he is not fighting off leopards

The leopard got Eno around the neck, and it was nearly tickets for the two-year-old dog.

The cat bit down, but instead of chomping on canine neck, it got a mouth full of radio transmitter. Its fangs pieced the radio’s battery which exploded. The dog went one way, the cat the other.

But importantly the leopard didn’t get to the cattle.
Increasingly Anatolian shepherd dogs are being used by South African farmers to protect their sheep and cattle.

They are an unusual breed. Puppies are introduced to a herd at an early age and Anatolians quickly bond with their host livestock.

The do this without the interface of a human.

The dogs are fiercely protective and their exploits  are often extraordinary.

The remains of the radio transmitter that saved Eno’s life

Some of their stories appear on the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre website.
One of these dogs was Crickey, who like Eno was attacked by leopard.

He was seriously injured but he protected his herd, preventing the leopard from taking any of the animals.
When he was returned from the vet, he was suppose to spend a couple of days recuperating in the farm house.

But that first night he broke out and trekked 14 km back to his herd. Sadly, Crickey was later to be killed by a  crocodile.
Another dog named Boleyn once carried a new born kid from the veld back to the kraal. The goats later got their chance to repay her, when she got trapped in a snare.

The snare was wrapped around her neck, so tight she was unable to move. When the farmer later found her, the herd of goats had gathered around her, protecting her from predators.

The farmer believed they saved her life.