Lost pet reunites with family after PTR, social media take up search

Deepu and family left Ruby at a boarding centre on OMR in Chennai on February 10 before heading to Rajasthan.
Ruby, the seven-month-old golden retriever, along with her family. ( Photo | EPS)
Ruby, the seven-month-old golden retriever, along with her family. ( Photo | EPS)

CHENNAI: Happiness is palpable in the house of Deepu Jain and the source of it is a bundle of fur dashing about in their apartment. Ruby, a seven-month-old golden retriever, is back home ending an anxious 40-day hunt for her by cops, animal activists, volunteers and the family. They had almost given up hope to find her again.

Deepu and their family left Ruby at a boarding centre on OMR in Chennai on February 10 before heading to Rajasthan. They had hoped to return soon and take her from the kennel, but gloom descended on the family when they heard that Ruby went missing from the shelter on February 14.

“It was a case of negligence from the shelter’s part as they left the kennel open. They filed a police complaint only after two days,” Deepu said. Initially, the police were unable to trace the dog. Later, a few corporation staff told Deepu that they saw a food delivery executive take her on his bike.

Ray of hope
Around this time, Deepu’s family members came across a tweet about Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan’s pet dogs in Madurai. Desperate to find Ruby somehow, the family sought his help. “What led to my involvement is a tweet by the Resident Editor of TNIE, on March 15. Ruby’s owner tweeted the issue by tagging me. I immediately got in touch with a few animal-rights activists. I also got in touch with the Tambaram police commissioner,” PTR told TNIE.

What followed was a coordinated operation to trace Ruby. A team of activists created a small video, which was widely circulated on social media. When volunteers tracked down all delivery boys in the area, they had also spoken to the boy who had taken the dog away.

Later, when he realised the police is behind the case, he himself called the volunteer and promised to get Ruby back. He had given Ruby to a family in Mayiladuthurai.

“We were lucky. We could find Ruby,” said Antony Rubin, a Chennai-based animal rights activist, who helped in the tracing operation. PTR said this incident has brought some lessons for them. “We need to introduce guidelines for pet boarding centres in the State. A committee will be set up soon.”

“When I got involved in his case, some people criticised me, suggesting that my focus should be policymaking and execution. But I believe I should be a humanitarian first. I am so happy today that the dog is back with the owner,” said PTR. It may be recalled that PTR has made an allocation of Rs 20 crore to support NGOs that take care of abandoned and injured pets and stray animals.

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