Karibu PROSPER !: Story of Japanese Earthquake Survivor Dog, Maruku

July 17, 2012

Story of Japanese Earthquake Survivor Dog, Maruku

We love a good dog story, and for some reason, they all seem to take place in Japan (we’re looking at you, Hachiko).

This time around, though, the Japanese earthquake ripped a 14-year-old dog named Maruko away from her loving family. She was trapped beneath the house’s rubble for 11 days without access to food or water. Miraculously, she was finally found, and was brought to a shelter. Once there, however she was labeled as aggressive because she was biting at handlers out of fear. She only had five days to find her owners, or she would be euthanized.

Maruko’s owners were notified in time, but they were staying at a shelter too, and dogs were not allowed there. The pound was set to put Maruko to sleep when, with just hours to spare, the Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS) group stepped in.

Kate O’Callaghan, an Irish expat with JEARS, volunteered to fly from Okinawa to Iwate Prefecture to rescue Maruko. “When we finally saw the dog, she was inside a cage shaking with fright,”O’Callaghan told the Huffington Post. “Maruko wasn’t aggressive, she was traumatized.”

The JEARS rescuers didn’t know about Maruko’s owners, however, so the dog was brought to one of JEARS’ shelters, then to an associated rescue group, HEART Tokushima. Maruko’s owners knew that their dog was still alive, but had no idea how to find her.

Finally, in September, YouTube solved the puzzle. The owners came across a video on JEARS’ blog called “Maruko’s story,” and contacted the organization. They were finally living in a home again, and were ready to reunite with their beloved dog. HEART volunteers traveled by plane with Maruko from their shelter in Shikoku to Sendai, where the dog was met by her family, then driven home to Iwate Prefecture. It was an 800-mile journey, but she was finally back.

“Her spirit is young, she is always smiling,” HEART founder Susan Mercer said of Maruko. “She understood she had a second chance at life, so she wanted to live it to the fullest.”

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