Gabi ( sr, Габи) was a female

German shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

who worked as a

guard dog A guard dog or watchdog (not to be confused with an attack dog) is a dog used to watch for and guard property against unwanted or unexpected human or animal intruders. The dog is discerning so that it does not annoy or attack the resident hum ...

in the

Belgrade Zoo Beo zoo vrt ( sr-cyrl, Бео зоо врт), also known as Vrt dobre nade (The Garden of good hope), is a publicly owned zoo located in Kalemegdan Park, downtown of Belgrade, Serbia. Established on July 12, 1936, it is considered to be one of th ...

SR Serbia , life_span = 1944–1992 , status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia , p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia , flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg , p2 ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. She became famous when she was attacked by a

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

that escaped from its cage on 22 June 1987.

History

In the 1980s an eight-year-old German Shepherd, Gabi, was adopted by the zoo and became an informal security guard. On the night of 22 June 1987, she was patrolling the zoo with guard Stanimir Stanić and a male German shepherd. In the darkness Stanić failed to notice a jaguar that had escaped from its cage. Gabi sensed the animal and jumped on it, while the other dog ran in fear from the large cat. Gabi fought the jaguar throughout the zoo, which allowed critical time for Stanić to telephone the police and wait for them to arrive. Gabi's actions prevented the jaguar's escape from the zoo and saved Stanimir Stanić from a possible attack. The police tried unsuccessfully to recapture the jaguar, and were eventually forced to shoot it to protect the public. Gabi was operated on at the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

and nursed back to health by the zoo's director Vuk Bojović. She eventually fully recovered and continued working as a guard dog. Later, the zoo erected a monument to Gabi with the inscription: "Dog Gabi, her heart was stronger than a jaguar".

References

{{Authority control 1987 in Yugoslavia Culture in Belgrade German shepherds 1980s in Belgrade Individual animals in Serbia Individual dogs Monuments and memorials in Serbia Sculptures in Serbia

History

See also

References