MUNNAR: Eight months after a massive landslide took away the family of her owner, Koovi, the pet dog that helped the rescue workers dig out the body of her master has returned to Pettimudi. The dog, which waited on the debris of the house of its two-year-old master Dhanushka’s family for days at the workers lane in Pettimudi after the devastating landslide on August 6, 2020, which claimed 70 lives, was adopted by the police dog squad after the tragedy.
Dhanushka’s grandmother Palaniamma, who lost all her relatives in the landslide had expressed desire to adopt the dog. As DGP Loknath Behera came to know about the desire of the elderly woman, he directed the dog squad to hand over the dog to her. A team of officers led by Munnar DySP R Suresh and Idukki dog squad in charge SI Roy Thomas visited Palaniamma’s house on Friday and handed over the dog to her. Civil Police officer Ajith Madhavan, who was the dog trainer at Idukki district dog squad, had spotted Koovi during the search operations at Pettimudi on August 16.
The dog did not take food after she lost her masters and was weak. But she continued to sniff and hang around the debris of the workers lane. Ajith Madhavan adopted the dog and took it to the dog rescue shelter at Cheruthoni. Koovi was later included in the dog squad and given care which helped the dog to adopt to the new surroundings. Palaniamma said the decision to return the dog was a great relief for her as she was feeling lonely with the loss of her family.