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Photography Award - PREDATORS CONTEST
I am happy to share that one of my images of Indian Wild Dog (Dhole) Chasing a Spotted Deer won 1st Prize, the "Winner" title in Predators Contest organized by SAEVUS Wildlife India LLP.
I take this opportunity to thank all my friends here and members of Indiawilds for the continued support and motivation, without you this was not possible. Special thanks to Sabyasachi and Mrudul who have been supporting me ever since I started wildlife photography.
Thanks to the “Team Saevus” for selecting this image, this image is very close to my heart, here one can see the expressions of the dhole who seems confident and assured of his victory while the deer has fear in her eyes and is almost certain of her death. I consider this as one of the Great Natural History Moments that I have ever captured. I was fortunate to have witnessed and captured the entire sequence of the dhole chasing the spotted deer. Coincidently this image also was adjudged as the Finalist for the Veolia Ennvironment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012, This Competition is jointly owned by the Natural History Museum Trading Company Limited and BBC Worldwide Limited, London, UK. Unfortunately it didn’t go to win further. But I am happy that it has won the 1st prize in this competition & thanks again to Saevus for making this happen.
Dholes are ferocious hunters and in most cases they will ensure that they are successful. During this sighting the spotted deer was chased in the forest for a while and finally the deer made a mistake of jumping into the water thinking that she can escape. Dholes are excellent swimmers, the drama went on for good 20 mins where the alpha male chased and finally assaulted the spotted deer in the water body. Death came to this deer by exhaustion, shock and later by loss of blood. The rest of the pack were anxiously waiting on the bank of the water body. In no time they all pulled the deer away in an open area on the bank of the water body. It was a pack of 14 dholes that included 2 puppies, all had their share of meat in just 5 minutes. I shot this action at Tavar Katte, a large water body at Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka State, India
