[Sportschosun Reporter Jang Jong-ho] A pet dog that went missing after being swept away by floods in China has moved hearts by finding its way back home on its own 10 days later.
According to Chinese media outlets including Phoenix Network, a man surnamed Lu, who lives in Baise in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, lost his pet dog, Benin, to a sudden flood earlier this month.
Benin was instantly carried away by the powerful current and disappeared from sight. Lu searched the riverbank area several times, but he was never able to find any trace of the dog.
As time passed and Lu began to lose hope, something miraculous happened before his eyes.
Exactly 10 days after going missing, on the 21st, Benin walked back to the front of the house on his own.
Reunited with the dog he had lived with for three years, Lu said, "The moment I saw Benin today, he cried and I cried too." He added, "I don't even know how far he was swept away, but in the end, he found his way home by himself."
Benin's condition after surviving the flood was heartbreaking.
His weight had dropped from about 25 kilograms to around 12 kilograms, nearly half of what it had been, and his body was covered with cuts and wounds of all sizes.
Lu said, "I can't even imagine how hungry he must have been, how exhausted he must have been, or how many dangers he had to endure over the past 10 days."
Worried about Benin's condition, he decided that feeding him too much at once could strain his body, so he is helping him recover by giving him small portions of rice porridge and meat.
Once the story became known, it drew an outpouring of emotional reactions online in the local community.
Netizens left comments such as, "It's amazing that he never gave up on going home," "I'm impressed by his remarkable instinct and intelligence in finding his way back even after getting lost," and "The pet dog's will to survive created a miracle."
Experts said that while there have been rare reports of dogs finding their way home over long distances by relying on their sense of smell, spatial awareness, and memory of their surroundings, it is highly unusual for a dog to return home on its own 10 days after being swept away by floods.
Reporter Jang Jong-ho bellho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
