I read the most heart warming story in La Nazione the other day. It was
about how a German Shepherd called Rocky managed to walk over 600 kilometres
from Salerno to Carrara to find his owner. I don’t mind telling you it brought
a tear to my eye.
Rocky and his owner Ibrahim Fwal were
inseparable. He’d had Rocky since he was a puppy and they were well known in his
hometown of Massa, Tuscany. In the summer Ibrahim regularly took Rocky to the
seaside on his scooter, the dog wearing a little child’s helmet. They would
play about on the beach and generally enjoy themselves.
Then one day three years ago when Ibrahim
returned for a swim, Rocky was nowhere to be seen. Onlookers said the dog had
been taken by some gypsies. Ibrahim looked everywhere. Checked all the places
he could think of, posted appeals and did everything he could, but Rocky had
disappeared. His owner was broken hearted.
Three years passed and someohow Rocky
managed to escape from the people who had taken him. He ended up , we know now,
in Salerno, 600 km from Massa He was s
found by a family who gave him a home but he kept escaping. They bouight him a
collar with their phone number on it, and so every time he escaped they got the
call to pick him up.
Finally Rocky had had enough. He was going
to get back to Ibrahim whatever it took. And so he escaped one last time and
began running north. How he managed to find his way is a complete mystery. He
had never been on that route and was just following instinct. It took him two
months to get to Pisawhere he was picked up by an animal lover. They called the
number on the collar and the people confirmed he had escaped two months
previously. But a further examination of the dog also revealed a tattoo. A
tattoo that Ibrahim had done in Massa, where it is obligatory to have your dog
microchipped or tattooed.
And so, finally after three years, Ibrahim
got the call he thought he would never recive. His dog was safe and they were
bringing him. “I couldn’t believe it,” said Ibrahim, with tears in his eyes.
“When they arrived, Rocky was in the car and as soon as he heard my voice he
went berserk trying to get out.”
A miracle if ever there was one!
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