Pit Bull left alone after owner’s death in Kochi finds family again & her real name

Kochi: For a few days, everyone called her Rukku. That was the name given by volunteers of Daya Animal Welfare Organisation after rescuing the Pit Bull from a locked flat in Kochi’s Aluva, where she was found alone without food or water for three days following the death of her owner, 46-year-old Anila Thomas.

But Rukku was never her real name. Her name is Jenny. And now, the dog who had lost her owner, her home and even her name has found her way back safely to people who had known her for years.

The revelation came soon after Daya took custody of Jenny, at the request of Aluva police after Anila was found dead in a decomposed state in a car parked outside the flat on September 17. Rose, a retired private-sector employee, contacted the organisation after seeing the news. She and her husband Jose George, a retired FACT employee, had known Anila closely and had lived with her and Jenny for around one to one-and-a-half years at the FACT quarters in Eloor.

Their first message to Daya was simple: “Her name is Jenny.”

“The very first message we got said, ‘Her name is Jenny’,” Daya founding member Ambili Purackkal told Onmanorama.

Rose had first met Anila through Facebook around 2021. Rose used to post poems and photographs of the lush FACT quarters, which caught Anila’s attention.

“One day she asked me, ‘May I come and see the locality?’ So she came and stayed for a few days. We became close friends,” Rose recalled.

When Anila later faced problems with her rented accommodation at Vyttila, Rose offered her a room at their quarters. Anila moved in with her belongings. Jenny, who was with Anila’s mother at that time, came too after Anila's mother passed away.

The dog had originally entered Anila’s life in an unusual way. Someone who owed her money failed to repay it, and Anila took the puppy instead of the money.

“When she came to us, the dog was about one year old, and Jenny soon became part of the household. She was a quiet soul. She never fought with other dogs or chased cats. When a cat gave birth at our place, Jenny would curl up right next to the newborn kittens to guard them. At night, when we sleep, she would walk around the house, visiting each bed three or four times just to check on everyone,” Rose said.

Rose and Jose eventually retired and moved to their present home at Valara, near Adimali, where they have a farm with coffee and nutmeg plantations.

Rose said Anila moved frequently, staying in different places including Thiruvananthapuram, Wayanad and Goa.

“According to Rose, Anila knew her time was limited. “She would say, ‘I will die someday anyway,’ and lived expecting death early, trying to enjoy whatever days she had. She was someone who moved around constantly, hanging out with friends,” Rose said.

Because of her wanderings, Jenny stayed for nearly four years with Shashi, a close mutual friend. However, about a week before Anila’s death, she brought her back to her Aluva flat. However, that brief reunion ended tragically.

When Anila’s cousin called Rose and told her about the death, her first thought was Jenny. “I knew she had been found dead outside. My heart sank thinking, God, the dog must be locked inside alone,” Rose said.

The family began asking around. Rose’s daughter-in-law Priya insisted that they bring Jenny back.“She said, ‘Mummy, we can’t leave her like an orphan,’” Rose recalled.

They eventually found Daya through the news report. Rose had photographs of Jenny and Anila with the family dating back to 2021. Ambili shared them with the Aluva police, who verified the connection.

For Ambili, another moment confirmed that the name Jenny belonged to the dog. The morning after Rose’s message, she walked gently towards the kennel. “I called out, ‘Jenny!’ She immediately stood up and came towards me. It was a huge amazement to me,” Ambili said.

The temporary name Rukku had suddenly become unnecessary. On Wednesday, Ambili volunteers drove Jenny to Rose’s home at Valara, near Adimali, where the family now lives on a farm surrounded by coffee and nutmeg plantations.

But the traumatic experience at the Aluva flat has left its mark. “If we shut a room door, she gets anxious and panics. She remembers being locked in. So we don’t chain her. She is free to roam the whole farm,” Rose said.

Jenny has also become particularly attached to Rose’s elder son, Jain, and does not want him out of her sight. According to Rose, she is now around six years old and has some eye problems, but she is back with people who knew her long before she briefly became Rukku.

For Ambili, that is the happiest part of the story. “She got her name back and got back her old acquaintances and a safe place to call home. She isn’t starting completely from scratch as ‘Rukku’; she gets to be Jenny again,” she said.

For Rose’s family, Jenny is more than a rescued dog. She is a living reminder of Anila, a friend who once walked through their doors and became part of their family.

“We are happy that Jenny is back with us. We won’t let her be an orphan like Anila was over the last few years,” Rose said.