Dog walks 200km across taiga as she looks for owners who rejected her

This is an extraordinary story of the dog’s devotion to an owner who could no longer care for her, and of the animal’s wondrous sense of direction.

Kennel owner Alla Morozova in Novosibirsk sold Maru - full name Manora - to a couple in Krasnoyarsk when the dog was five months old. 

After six months the woman owner called Alla and said she was ‘allergic’ to the animals and asked the kennel to take the animal back.

'I never give up my puppies and when a dog is bought, it is stipulated that the owners should inform me if they do not need a dog anymore,’ she said. 

An arrangement was agreed to send the dog back to Novosibirsk on the train.

An attendant had agreed to care for the animal en route. 

But some 200 km into the journey the train stopped at a small station near Achinsk.

'The dog had a panic attack, she was frightened,’ said Alla.

‘She had been brought by her owners, then they disappeared somewhere. 

‘The noise of the train scared her…’

‘The dog jumped on the compartment  door, kicked the handle to open it, and almost threw the conductor out of the way.

‘She jumped out like a bullet. 

‘When the door opened to the platform, she jumped out into the night, into the taiga.' 

The train only had a brief stop. The attended shouted for the dog but it failed to return.

The attendant called the owners in Krasnoyarsk and said the dog was missing.

They called Alla and she asked them to go to Achinsk area and search for the animal, but they refused.

She said: ‘That angered me. The owners were not upset at all, like, well, the dog is lost and that's all right. 

‘That was their answer. 

‘They gave the dog away and the load fell off their shoulders.' 

Alla posted messages about lost Maru and had leaflets distributed asking for information. 

Remarkably, the dog was found two and a half days later. 

She was located in an industrial area of Krasnoyarsk, trying to reach her owners. Her sense of direction is extraordinary.

‘She had walked and run for two and a half days. Luckily neither bears ate her, nor wolves chewed her up.’

Both animals are prevalent in the wild here.

It is presumed she followed the railway track all the way back to Krasnoyarsk.

‘Volunteers found her in an industrial zone. The dog was very tired.

‘She was lame, her paws were broken. The pads were damaged. Her muzzle was broken.

‘Maru fell from the railway embankment.' 

The volunteers who found her claim that she was ‘even in tears’.

Alla said: 'I'm sure that she was looking for her house. Dogs are very attached to people. 

‘She did not run to Novosibirsk, she wanted to go back where she lived. It is surprising that she went the right way. 

‘Geographically, she had no reference points at all. In the city she used to walk only in the yard, she never went anywhere else. 

‘And  to make her away through the wild taiga, it is an amazing case. 

‘This is a breed developed by gamekeepers… Imagine, after so many generations, the qualities of the breed have helped her.' 

Alla’s friend Alyona Makhova drove the dog to the kennels in Novosibirsk where Maru was reunited with her mother and father. 

She is now undergoing treatment to recover from her ordeal.