Sergeant Claibourne

Sergeant Claibourne was a soldier working under Colonel Geoffrey Brydon's command in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

Role in the film
Sergeant Claibourne is first seen at the start of the film when he, along with Buldeo and another soldier were reprimanded by Nathoo for hunting in the Black Jungle and breaking the jungle law. Claibourne and the other two had been, allegedly, hunting "a few animals here or there" when the mighty tiger Shere Khan found out about their sport-killing. Nathoo warns them to be aware of the tiger now that he suspects the entire tour party.

Later that evening, as the group makes encampment, Claibourne is preparing for a game of cards, while the infuriated Shere Khan prepares to attack the camp, first by killing the young solider who had hunted with them earlier. As he deals the cards out on the table, he hears an eerie growl in the distance and then notices that one of the cards has a menacing image of a pouncing tiger.

Claibourne assumes that he was imagining things when he heard the growl, but then hears another one. Jumping up in alarm, he then sees Shere Khan charging towards and pouncing on him. Claibourne barely has time to scream before the tiger goes for his neck.

In the ensuing chaos, Colonel Brydon informed Dr. Julius Plumford of the tiger and that it attacked Claibourne. Plumford then went to attend to Claibourne, but the man was already dead.