Nepal tragedy: Owners missing, dog refuses to leave flood-hit Trishuli home

File photo: A dog rests on muddy ground in front of a damaged house after flash flooding in the Devighat area of Nuwakot district in Nepal

TRISHULI BAZAAR (NUWAKOT): A black-and-white dog, its collar still intact, has refused to leave the site of a row of four homes washed away in last week's flood in Trishuli Bazaar, remaining in the same muddy patch even as half a dozen JCBs and rescue workers clear timber, silt and debris around him.

He barely reacts to strangers, does not wag his tail at all and keeps returning to what used to be the front entrance of one of the houses.Volunteer relief worker Bikram Thapa told TOI that workers initially tried offering biscuits and calling him by common pet names. “We’ve tried coaxing him with biscuits and calling him by all sorts of pet names, but he doesn't even turn his head. His collar is intact,” he said. “He won't leave this place.”Sunil Tamang, who has been working on debris clearance, said even the roar of heavy machinery operating only metres away failed to move the dog. “In the middle of all the heavy JCB engines and clearing operations, he just sits in that muddy pool,” Tamang told TOI. “Not a single wag of his tail. He refuses to cross the boundary of where his yard used to end.”Tamang said the dog showed no panic even when excavators moved close to the spot.

He would occasionally lift his head at the sound of an approaching vehicle or people moving through the debris, but then settle back in the same place once they passed.The dog’s home, like the rest of the small neighbourhood around it, no longer exists. The flood washed away the row of houses and erased familiar boundaries, leaving only mud, debris and scattered remains of structures. Nobody working at the site could identify his owners or say which of the four homes he belonged to, but his repeated return to the same former doorway and refusal to move beyond what used to be the yard suggested this had been his territory.Community animal rescue volunteer Rita Gurung said workers eventually stopped trying to make him leave and instead began placing dry food and water nearby. “We keep leaving dry rations near him every few hours,” Gurung told TOI. “He only takes a bite when the road is quiet.”Displaced resident Maya Adhikari said most dogs in the area moved towards higher ground when the flood struck, but this one stayed around the destroyed houses.

“This was his territory, his family's courtyard,” she said.Local shopkeeper Dinesh Basyal said residents who had themselves lost homes had begun watching out for him. “We lost our homes, but we understand what happened,” Basyal said. “He doesn't understand why everyone disappeared — he just knows he isn't supposed to leave until they return.”