Sambalpur: A group of tourists spotted an endangered Indian red hound (wild dog) during a jungle safari at Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Bargarh, Odisha on Saturday afternoon.

According to Debrigarh officials, some tourists spotted the animal near the deer area around 3:45 pm, took photographs and showed the pictures to the tourists.

Kamalakanta Majhi, a tourist from Sundargarh, captured a video of the wild dog when it was only about 20 metres away. “I have been here several times but I have never seen a wild dog. I checked online and later got confirmation from the safari guide that it was indeed a wild dog,” he told the media.

This is the first time that a wild dog, whose population is declining in the wild due to habitat fragmentation, has been spotted by tourists in the state.

Anshu Pragyan Das, forest officer of Hirakud Wildlife Division, said that camera traps installed in Debrigarh had caught a pair of wild dogs in October last year after seven years. The presence of this Schedule-2 species was also recorded in the Kuldiha sanctuary of Balasore and Similipal.

The sighting of red dogs is considered a sign of a healthy prey base and the availability of ample food and water during the monsoon is said to have prompted the wild dogs to explore new areas in the forest, including the safari zone. Debrigarh is home to herbivores such as Indian gaur, sambar deer, red deer, wild boar, cheetah and chowsingha.