After The Earthquake: A Dog Rescued 9 Days Later

After small towns are left in ruins by natural disasters such as earthquakes, it’s inevitable to find some surprising stories. These stories help to restore hope in the midst of the pain and death of many humans and animals. This is why we’re bringing you this encouraging story today, the story of a dog that was rescued 9 days after a tragic earthquake in central Italy.

Dog rescued after his house was turned into rubble

The doggie in question is called Romeo and is a Golden Retriever who, despite how long he was buried, came out virtually unscathed. Amazingly, the animal somehow found shelter inside a cavity in the ruins of the house.

Rescuers think he was able to access a source of water and perhaps some food. Because of this, they were able to take him out of the rubble. The dog immediately began walking normally and wagged his tail in front of everyone.

Romeo’s owners had already given up on him after searching without any luck. They came to the place where his house was, to try to recover some belongings. Suddenly, they heard some barking and called the rescuers. They began the search immediately and were able to find Romeo safe and sound.

You can see some pictures of how they rescued the dog in the town of Amatrice here. It happened 9 days after an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale. This earthquake caused around 300 deaths.

Italian firefighters rescued a dog from the rubble. However, it was 9 days after an earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale struck the central part of the country.

Hope among the ruins

In terrible situations such as earthquakes of this magnitude, people usually focus on the human tragedy, and not the pets and other animals that inhabit the area, maybe in zoos or farms.

Public and private entities work together in the midst of these tragedies to help animals trapped in the rubble. These entities also search for pets who lose their human family. Some animals wander disoriented among the destroyed surroundings because of the confusion, and they need help as well.

Rescuers reuniting pets with their owners comfort both animals and people in the middle of disasters like these. Similarly, for those who lost all their material goods and perhaps even loved ones, meeting their furry friends again is a blessing in the midst of a devastated panorama.

Rescuing Gioia

This is Daniela Tursini’s case, for instance. She was a woman, also from Amatrice, who begged rescuers to find her cat Gioia (“joy”). “She’s all I have left,” Tursini told them. Amatrice had been hit the hardest by the earthquake.

Finally though, Tursini’s prayers were answered when rescued found her cat, who had been buried for 5 days under the rubble. If you want to see pictures of Gioia’s rescue, you can watch a video here.

Most important of all, veterinarians ruled out any major health problems in the cat after checking her. She was then reunited with her owner immediately.

Pietro the survivor

Out of all these stories, perhaps Pietro’s is the most moving. The cat survived 16 days under the rubble, also in Amatrice.

When some rescuers heard a faint cry among the ruins, they couldn’t believe that there was still hope of finding someone alive so long after the tragedy.

The poor animal was totally dehydrated and malnourished, with serious kidney problems and a fractured jaw. Because of this, they predicted low chances of recovery for him. However, he actually managed to do very well, and recovered slowly but surely.

Image sources: www.bbc.com and ENPA (Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali)’s facebook page.