Few have seen big cats hunt at night because, well, they’re very good at not being seen.
But their nemeses — guard dogs — have never needed to turn on the lights to sound the alarm.
Here’s a late-night encounter in a paddock in Patagonia between a slumbering flock, an intruding puma, and two trusty sheep dogs. And Bertie Gregory captured it all on a night vision setup for National Geographic.
It’s a spy film in part. Darkened vans and shady personnel set the scene.
The show gets underway when the feline starts its prowl. There’s a climactic moment when, exactly like a housecat, it lifts a slack paw while measuring a jump. Then it pounces over the fence with a motion that looks like liquid.
But its infiltration is truncated. Right away, the two sleeping dogs stir, and chase the cat.
The tension breaks easily, but it’s a pregnant moment — and a novel glimpse of a nocturnal apex predator on the hunt.
