Chennai: Tide surfers by profession, German couple, Steffen Kagerah and his wife Janin, who are currently running to every nook of Chennai to trace Luke— their 13-months-old Labrador mix dog that got stolen at Marina on Saturday— started their intercontinental road trip in April last year to enjoy the long drives across different countries and to upload surfing tutorials from their marine outings in Europe and Asia on their YouTube channel, Syncro Travels.
After the wonderful drive through Germany, Slovenia, Croatia and Albania, the couple arrived in Greece in June. On their normal surfing routine at the western side beach, they found Luke lying helpless and abandoned under their van.
“We never liked dogs till then but this one month old puppy instantly attracted us. After the vet nearby confirmed he had no owners, we adopted him and continued on our journey with a happy third member on board”, said Steffen.
Armenia, their next destination, drew the puppy closer to his new guardians. Steffen said that the temperature was -15 degrees Celsius and Luke saved the couple numerous times from getting lost in the snow.
“Also, he barked just in time before I could step on a snake which the locals later told us was a very venomous type. With no hospital nearby, we would not have survived but for Luke’s warning”, said Jenin.
The couple and their Luke faced numerous problems starting from freezing in the Armenian snow to being guarded by the police 24x7 in Pakistan, even while sleeping.
After surfing through the lovely shores of Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Pakistan, they reached India in July this year. Driving through Amritsar, Goa and Rameswaram, they reached Chennai on Friday (July 7) hoping to spend some good time in the Tamil capital and its famous beach, before crossing over to Sri Lanka on July 17. The Marina disaster on Saturday derailed the plans and destroyed the joy of 15 months.
Luking for lost joy
The sharp knock on the glass window of her van brought Janin out of her blissful reverie, as she waited for Steffen who had gone to the port for checking on formalities to load their vehicle on a ship to Sri Lanka. It was a man in his early 20s and one with special needs. He waved his hands agitatedly and it took a while for her to understand the mute’s message: someone cut Luke’s leash and carried him away in an autorickshaw.
“The boy understood that our Luke was being stolen but did not have the presence of mind, obviously due to his special needs situation, to note down the auto’s registration number”, rued Janin, speaking to DC.
Running hither and thither around the van to see if Luke and the abductor were anywhere near, and finding they were not, Janin dialed Steffen and he arrived in no time. People nearby flooded them with sympathy and lots of advice, the most useful being the location of the Marina police station.
At the station, the cops told the couple there isn’t much they could do since there were no CCTV cameras in the area. Distraught in their loss and helplessness, the couple next got to Social Media to spread their SOS and got pamphlets done with pleading messages for information on Luke, which they promised would be handsomely rewarded.
“Initially, we did not give out too many details about Luke’s looks because some people told us we would be flooded with hoax calls asking for money for information”, Steffen said.
The couple also contacted veterinary hospitals, pet shops and even Blue Cross, hoping that the thief might have dropped off his catch unable to handle Luke’s protest-barking and scared he might bite. Their FB posts attracted many animal lovers to respond with sympathy and promises to ‘look out’. Animal rights activist Shravan Krishnan wondered why the police threw up their hands saying there were no CCTV cameras at Marina when they could have as well checked on cameras elsewhere in the region to see if any auto with a dog was passing by.
“Cops have caught thieves with CCTV footages many times in the past”, he said, adding that Steffen could have printed some of his pamphlets in Tamil too so that the residents of the many slums in the area could have read them, and possibly helped.
Steffen added that they would continue the search for Luke till his Indian visa expires on 21 July. After that, they would go to Sri Lanka for a brief period to extend their Indian visa and come back to Chennai to give the search another shot.
