Stray dog humbles king of the jungle near Gir

Ahmedabad: A stray dog,aptly named Fighter,is reported to be giving a group of lions a tough time at Kankarach village in Gujarats Amreli district.
The dog is bent on ensuring that these lions,otherwise the undisputed kings of the forest,do not enter the village for a kill.He has been seen chasing away them from the village on several occasions.
Rajan Joshi,a resident of the village says,I saw the dog getting extremely close to the group of lions.It stood at a range of just eight or ten feet and challenged them,darting in as close as two feet and barking loudly.
Joshi says that as the lions turned on the dog to chase him,Fighter dove into nearby shrubs to evade them,and came back charging as soon as distance allowed.It was satisfied only when the annoyed lions returned to the wild.
Joshi says the lions are scared to enter the village from the side where the dog normally stays.Villagers say Fighters barking has alerted them to the presence of lions on several occasions and there have been times whe he was nearly caught by the lions but escaped by darting into thorny bushes.
Forest officials said they have never heard of a dog daring to go as close as three feet to a group of lions.Addl principal chief conservator of forests H S Singh said,The lions would probably be moving away thinking that humans might be accompanying the dog.