# German shepherd defeats a Jaguar to protect night watchman at zoo



## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

This is probably 1 of the most amazing stories about German shepherds i ever heard and wanted to share. It was a situation where a night watchman in a zoo was doing a nightly walk through with his female German shepherd and he then noticed the dog alert, it then was to be discovered a jaguar escaped it's cage; "jaguars are the 3rd biggest and most powerful cat next to the lion and tiger and go 200-300lbs".. without hesitation, the German shepherd in defense of the night guard charged and went at the jaguar and a viscous brawl broke out. They battled throughout the zoo and the night guard called for back up, when all was said and done, both were injured very bad, the jaguar had to be put down as it was still showing signs of aggression, and the dog needed emergency medical care... when all was said and done, after months of rehab, the GSD survived and actually went back to being a guard dog at that same zoo. 

The zoo then put a statue of the GSD; Gabi was her name as a tribute to her heart, courage, and strength to take on such a dangerous adversary in defense of the night watchman.

This story just serves as a reminder of why the German shepherd is in a class of it's own as a guardian and companion in 1. Protection is "natural" to them as they were bred to guard sheep from predators along with herding them, so they look at their human companions as their "flock" and will protect them at all cost. I think all the more that's why we as humans need to respect that and also give them all the love and care they deserve and also repay them with the same protectiveness and love they give us. On that note, i don't think the dog should have went back to being a guard dog and they should have respectfully retired her after going through something like that in my opinion.

Here is a link to that story, hope you all enjoyed  
Gabi (dog) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Interesting story, looks like Gabi was a coatie too.


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## huntergreen (Jun 28, 2012)

having a bit of a hard time believing a gsd can take on a jaguar and survive.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

huntergreen said:


> having a bit of a hard time believing a gsd can take on a jaguar and survive.


I doubt head on one would survive. I'm picturing a scared jaguar trying to escape with the Gabi in pursuit, perhaps making a few short moments of contact with the jaguar always looking for an out, like hounds chasing cougars/bears.


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## Maxil (Jun 1, 2014)

huntergreen said:


> having a bit of a hard time believing a gsd can take on a jaguar and survive.


True, one bite from a jaguar can cut him to pieces
But miracles happen >.>


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

huntergreen said:


> having a bit of a hard time believing a gsd can take on a jaguar and survive.


She had months of recovery, so she was seriously hurt. She kept the jaguar busy, while help was called. She played the role of prey and predator. She probably knew the zoo inside and out and the cat didn't, a big advantage for her, one that might have made her the survivor. She didn't kill him, but she kept him at bay.


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## huntergreen (Jun 28, 2012)

when i was stationed in san diego naval hospital, i would often walk across the street and watch them feed the large cats. 2 seconds of a brawl between a gsd and a "cat', and the gsd is done for. heck, i recently saw a bear turn and swat a pit bull mix, one swat with the razor sharp claws disemboweled this 70 pound dog who died on the spot. gsd are amazing dogs, but they have their limits. now if this was a declawed toothless old jaguar, then i could see it.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Defeat is probably a less than accurate description of what happened


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## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

I put this story up as a "positive" thing about the courage of the breed, and i see so many trolls saying "i doubt it happened, bla bla bla".. What.... do you think i just made the story up?? What about the link i posted? Did i take the time to make up a fake link for no reason?? What about the statue at the zoo of the dog and the story?? Did i build this statue myself and go deliver to the Belgrade zoo myself just to make up a story?? Man, people need to really use common sense before saying dumb things.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

GSDhistorian said:


> I put this story up as a "positive" thing about the courage of the breed, and i see so many trolls saying "i doubt it happened, bla bla bla".. What.... do you think i just made the story up?? What about the link i posted? Did i take the time to make up a fake link for no reason?? What about the statue at the zoo of the dog and the story?? Did i build this statue myself and go deliver to the Belgrade zoo myself just to make up a story?? Man, people need to really use common sense before saying dumb things.


Its a real story, glad you brought it up. Here's another link with more detail. 
Gabi, the Brave Dog

The result sounds like most would imagine, she got her clock cleaned, however she defiantly showed fearlessness, a trait lacking in the other guard dog that ran off.


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## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

Thanks for posting the other link and commenting!  Yea, i got these people acting like i made it up and also twisting my words,lol, i came right out and said the dog was wounded bad, but the hole point of the story was the German shepherd had the courage to take on such a dangerous animal like a jaguar and even if the dog took a beating, she did enough to save the guard from getting mauled and i read in other stories she apparently did some damage to the jaguar.. prob not a lot, but obviously some. I personally love my GSD more then almost anything in this world and even though she would probably do the same thing as this dog, i would rather the jaguar get me then her because im just as protective of her as she is me


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Nigel said:


> Its a real story, glad you brought it up. Here's another link with more detail.
> Gabi, the Brave Dog
> 
> The result sounds like most would imagine, she got her clock cleaned, however she defiantly showed fearlessness, a trait lacking in the other guard dog that ran off.


She deserves the statue.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

This happened in 87 before the wall came down, while Gabi sounds like a fantastic GSD, she earned her statue. I'm a bit surprised by the action of the other one. I would think there would be some signs that dog was lacking.


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## GSDhistorian (Aug 30, 2014)

I know what you mean.... i can't believe the male turned and ran to leave Gabi to fight this animal alone. Had the male jumped in to help her, maybe her injuries would not have been as bad.


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## Milan (Dec 21, 2015)

Hello friends, greetings from Serbia - indeed, Gabi is a legend over here. Here is a rare video of her from 1992 (5 years after the jaguar incident), walking around and posing by her monument.

*edit: ok, since it's my first post here, the forum won't allow me to post the Youtube link, so just type "kerusa gabi" in Youtube's searchbox.


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## Black Kali (Aug 31, 2013)

I'm from Belgrade, and I know it is a real story... Sad story but real.


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## Milan (Dec 21, 2015)

Pozdrav. That's right, Black Kali, it's a well known story here; glad to find mentioned it on this forum as well.

(ok, one more post to be able to post links)


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## Milan (Dec 21, 2015)

*chatting away*... Glad to be here. How you're all' doin? When my brother was in the Army on the Serbia / Montenegro border, he had a huge GSD as his best buddy. A lot of photos from that period.

(ok, let's try the link thingy now)


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## Milan (Dec 21, 2015)

Here we are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDjLaisy_0

The narrator says she died 5 years after the incident, so that was the last year of her life. She was 13.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

huntergreen said:


> when i was stationed in san diego naval hospital, i would often walk across the street and watch them feed the large cats. 2 seconds of a brawl between a gsd and a "cat', and the gsd is done for. heck, i recently saw a bear turn and swat a pit bull mix, one swat with the razor sharp claws disemboweled this 70 pound dog who died on the spot. gsd are amazing dogs, but they have their limits. now if this was a declawed toothless old jaguar, then i could see it.


I don't know if you remember when the leopard killed and ate it's keeper there. I think it was in the early 70's. They didn't kill the leopard, the handler was abusing it. It was contained in a relatively small cage away from the other exhibits to live out its days.

I used to sit on the bench beside him on the path. Such a sad animal.


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## Dotbat215 (Aug 19, 2015)

GSDhistorian said:


> I put this story up as a "positive" thing about the courage of the breed, and i see so many trolls saying "i doubt it happened, bla bla bla".. What.... do you think i just made the story up?? What about the link i posted? Did i take the time to make up a fake link for no reason?? What about the statue at the zoo of the dog and the story?? Did i build this statue myself and go deliver to the Belgrade zoo myself just to make up a story?? Man, people need to really use common sense before saying dumb things.


First, trolls aren't simply people who disagree/disbelieve you. Trolls are people who intentionally inflame others for their own glee. No one here is doing that.

Second, I don't think folks were accusing you of making it up. The issue, I think, stems from the use of words like defeat and battle. It implies that they got into a fight and Gabi won. When really it seems that she got pretty messed up but survived long enough for help to arrive. 

That isn't saying she wasn't brave or strong. She could have run off at the first sign of danger but she didn't. Folks here are just trying to be accurate. A lot of the "trolls" as you referred to them are experienced GSD keeps and long time forum members who simply want to help.


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

Dotbat215 said:


> First, trolls aren't simply people who disagree/disbelieve you. Trolls are people who intentionally inflame others for their own glee. No one here is doing that.
> 
> Second, I don't think folks were accusing you of making it up. The issue, I think, stems from the use of words like defeat and battle. It implies that they got into a fight and Gabi won. When really it seems that she got pretty messed up but survived long enough for help to arrive.
> 
> That isn't saying she wasn't brave or strong. She could have run off at the first sign of danger but she didn't. Folks here are just trying to be accurate. A lot of the "trolls" as you referred to them are experienced GSD keeps and long time forum members who simply want to help.


Now, now. We all know there's no such thing as embellished or exaggerated information on the internet. /s

I find that the word "troll" has about as much meaning these days as "hack." People use it whenever they need to describe something they don't understand. Someone opened up a terminal? They're a hacker. Someone looked over your shoulder and saw your password? That's right, they're a hacker! Someone disagreed with you? Obviously a troll. Nearly meaningless words at this point...


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## misfits (Jan 13, 2011)

Pretty old thread


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