Just when it was really starting to look like Coco the Bali dog had been lost forever, she reappeared, just like that.
Coco, our editor’s black little Bali dog went missing on Nov. 16 and was miraculously discovered this morning, exactly four Mondays later.
It had been four long weeks of endless searches by foot and by motorbike, posting and reposting in a handful of Bali Facebook groups, putting up lost dog and reward posters, circulating flyers around everywhere from Kedonganan to Ayana Resort and in between, and Coco was really nowhere to be found.
A handful of people called in over the past month after spotting black dogs in a number of places and a couple of the dogs genuinely even resembled Coco, but it was never really her that they were calling about.
Living in a dog-less home, disheartened, lonely, and literally surrounded by countless stray Bali dog puppies, our editor and her boyfriend decided to adopt a pup, Lulu, with the hopes that one day she would be able to meet her big sister, Coco—though this seemed very unlikely.
Then everything changed this Monday morning, a mere three days after young Lulu’s adoption.
When going out to take Lulu for a walk on Jimbaran Beach, pre-work in the AM, our editor saw a black dog running in the distance with a similar build as Coco. The dog was running, but when she called out “Coco?!”, the dog suddenly stopped in its tracks.
At first the dog continued to run, but when she called, “Coco! Coco!”, it came running back towards her, and sure enough, it was Coco in the flesh. Coco was confused, skeptical, but ultimately excited and full of kisses to give. Coco is much skinnier than before which is in part due to having to scrap for food and in part because of a parasite that she is now being treated for, but other than that she wasn’t in too bad of shape when she was found.
We can’t say this enough what a rough place Bali can be for animals living on the street with challenges like poison, senseless cruelty and abuse, and dog culling, but Coco’s story reminds us how resilient these dogs can be—though she had been babied and pampered her whole first year of her life since she was rescued, her survival instinct clearly kicked in this last month she was fending for herself.
Welcome home Coco!
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