Today is my third day in Mussoorie, India and I woke up
around 4;30. The Pittsburgh Pirates were just beginning a baseball game back in
the states and I watched that for half an hour before I saw the sun creeping
through the curtains of the upstairs loft. I decided to go hiking to watch the
sunset. On my steep ascent up into the mountains, I ran into two wild dogs.
India has wild dogs absolutely everywhere. In fact,
yesterday, as the students and I walked through the shopping district of the
town, we came across an abandoned litter of puppies shivering in the street,
piled under a few motorcycles. The girls (and I) were rather heartbroken over
the ordeal.
Anyhow, the two wild dogs ended up following me for over an
hour as I hiked. When I came to the pinnacle of the mountain I was on, they sat
down and watched the sunrise with me. It was there that I promptly gave the
names of Pocahontas and Geronimo to my two fellow companions.
The dogs followed me back down the mountain until they
started languishing behind, whining, as I neared the gate of one particular village.
I urged them on with friendly tussling of their manes and cooing of
encouragement. However, it seemed I was in the wrong. No more than one minute
passed this gate, a pack of dogs came flying out from a fork in the road and
attacked my two friends. The large alpha male, Geronimo was chased back into
the village. Pocahontas, the very small female who almost seemed like a puppy,
was pushed over one of the walls down fifteen feet where she somersaulted,
cried out, and peed herself. I stepped in front of her and stood protectively
as half of the dogs split to chase Geronimo, and the other half preyed upon
Pocahontas. However, they had no interest in confronting a human for her.
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| The sunrise, for once not obscured by the monsoon's clouds and mist. |
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| Geronimo on the left, and Pocahontas on the right. |
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| The Rhesus Macaque |
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| Geronimo can't resist the chase. |
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