India, Oct. 19 -- The elegant Chinkara (Indian gazelle) will bolt into the blue when human shadows loom on the desert horizon. But when rescued from dog bites, poachers, road accidents, etc, and lovingly cared for by the Bishnois of Western Rajasthan, the shy creature adapts and embraces the household just as a domesticated goat.

'Sundari', as she was christened by Pharsaram Bishnoi Godara, was a Chinkara orphan whose mother was killed by dogs in village Denok on December 15, 2024. Godara's sister, Bhawri, who is married in Denok, buried the mother. Bhawri had found her fawn, barely able to stand on its legs, in the bajra fields and bleating faintly, piteously. Godara had taken the waif under his wing, and to his village of Barjasar.

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