COIMBATORE: Bairava, a sniffer dog attached to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), died in a road accident on Meenkarai Road in Pollachi on Saturday morning.
At around 7.10 am, the four-year-old dog was on a regular practice session (walking exercise) with his trainer, within the Deputy Director of ATR office, when a group of stray dogs gathered outside the office.
Bairava was chasing the stray dogs when a TNSTC bus passing the Pollachi-Meenkarai road hit him. The dog died on the spot.
Bairava was instrumental in tracing the body of a four-year-old Jharkhand-native girl who was killed by a leopard and left behind between tea bushes after 17 hours of searching plantations in Pachamalai near Valparai. The dog also helped in tracing the accused in a tusk poaching case.