Kerala: Koovi, The Dog Who Found Girl's Body In Idukki Landslide, To Be Adopted

According to a report by The News Minute, Ajith Madhavan, a trainer with the Kerala Police Dog Squad in Idukki, spent two days with Koovi during his shift for the rescue operation in Pettimudi in Rajamala ward, after which he decided to adopt her.

"I reached Pettimudi around 5 am with my dog squad and started looking for Koovi but could not find her anywhere. Then a resident told me where to find her. She was sitting near one of the line houses (layams) alone. When I called out her name, she wagged her tail and looked at me. When I sat down and then called her, she came walking towards me and snuggled," Ajith told the media.

Following the fatal landslide that devastated houses of tea plantation workers at the Rajamalai hills early this month, Koovi, who is nearly 1.5-year-old had waited for days at the site, frantically searching for her owner.

After two days of search operations, it was Koovi who helped rescuers reach Dhanushka's body. According to locals, Koovi was gazing into the river which flows through Pettimudi, when she alerted rescue workers by barking. The workers then searched and recovered the two-year-old's body from the river.

According to Ajith, ever since she started searching for Dhanushka, Koovi had sat alone at the landslide site, without eating for nearly a week. Koovi looked sad and her eyes were also swollen with some discharge, Ajith added.

"I managed to bring her to the makeshift mess set up at the site for the National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) team, rescue workers and the dogs in the squad. Koovi refused to eat initially, but later, slowly started eating the yolk of boiled eggs. As she started eating more eggs, I gave her the food that we had brought for the police dogs. It was after this Koovi felt energetic, and started hanging around with me," he said.

After two days of rescue work, while it was time for Ajith to leave, he felt sad in leaving her behind. Most of the residents were shifted out of the region and rescue workers would leave by twilight, only Koovi was left behind at the site.

"I entrusted a person who works with an adventure group there to look after Koovi. He keeps sending me her pictures and videos every day," Ajith said.

However, as Koovi still looked sad and was hardly eating, Ajith decided to adopt her. He also sought permission from the Idukki Collector and other district officials for the same.