Hotel dogs reunited with puppies after avalanche escape
PENNE, Italy: Italy’s avalanche disaster ended happily for one family: the Hotel Rigopiano’s dogs survived and have been reunited with their puppies, a member of staff told AFP on Friday.
Lupo and Nuvola (Wolf and Cloud), a couple of shaggy white Abruzzo sheepdogs who were born and raised in the ill-fated hotel, were initially feared to have perished in Wednesday’s tragedy.
But they were found on Thursday ambling along a road in Villa Cupoli, a hamlet four kilometres away, according to resident Martina Rossi, who worked at the hotel but was not there when the avalanche struck.
“I saw them in the street about 9.30pm on Thursday night, and my heart started beating very fast,” the 19-year-old told AFP. “I called their names and they recognised me, I was so happy. I have no idea how they got there.”
With the hotel owner among the people missing under the ruins, the dogs have been taken in by another local resident who had just adopted a litter of puppies Nuvola had recently given birth to.
Also known as the Maremmano, the Abruzzo sheepdog breed is known for its photogenic appearance with the puppies resembling furry Polar bear cubs.
Their white coats are the result of selective breeding in their native regions of Abruzzo and the Tuscan Maremma.
The colour enabled them to blend in with sheep flocks they were assigned to protect from wolves. — AFP