Hey, you guys probably know already that Luke was found.
I wanted to tell you in this video a bit about the search and
how we found him in the end.
Actually, we didn't find him, our friend 'Vijaya, found him.
What happened was, that we parked the car in Chennai.
(The car was here) We didn't find a parking place in the shadow and we don't have A/C.
That is why we tied Luke outside of the car, we have always tied him outside when it was too hot inside the car.
I saw him the last time at 15:30 pm.
He was sleeping underneath the car.
At 16:00 pm someone knocked on the door.
I was ... unfortunately sitting here, inside the car.
I was working on my laptop.
The guy who knocked said, that someone took Luke with them.
The guy told us that Luke was taken away in an Auto Rickshaw.
That was the one and only hint we had during the whole search.
Also, we didn't know if he was saying the truth.
They could have worked together, trying to give us a wrong lead.
No one knew ...
Chennai is packed with Rickshaws. Wherever you look, you see at least one Rickshaw, usually even more.
Chennai is a city with a population of 8 million people.
There are so many street dogs.
And Luke was a street pub as well, from Greece but he is not a pedigree dog, so he blends in. He also had a Alu-Tag with name, mobile number and address.
Not address, but E-Mail address.
Steffen and I waited for two nights at the spot where Luke was stolen.
We were hoping that they just ask for money and give us Luke back.
So we waited two days, but no one came.
During that time we started to print first posters and hand bills.
After three days, we got to know more people through the media.
We found a few new friends who helped us and gave us advice.
They really helped us, because we didn't know where to start with posters,
where to go to, if there are Rickshaw meeting anywhere in Chennai, etc.
They also advised us to put a reward on the posters
and the reward amount should be mentioned.
We weren't sure if it's better with or without the amount.
We simply didn't know how things work in this country.
And how the people think...
Also, we didn't know how much we should announce.
We would have given all our savings - which we did - to get our dog back
We didn't say, we would only give 500 Euros to get Luke back.
We would have given all the savings we have and end the journey immediately.
To get our dog back somehow...
But the problem is, that - if you offer too much money - they get suspicions and don't believe it anymore. So we had to find the golden middle.
We hadn't been long enough in Chennai to know all this.
30,000 IND RS is not too much and it is enough so people have a look around, maybe even go somewhere to have a look if our dog is there.
And that was exacly what we wanted.
So we started to put up posters and hand outs everywhere.
Everything okay?
We also went to the first illegal breeders. (Poster made by Akril, he printed and distributed 2000 posters to help Luke)
First we had a look if Luke could be there
We had to do this with locals. If we went there by ourselves, they wouldn't talk to us.
So we had someone, who went there for us and had a look if Luke is there.
Or a black Labrador mix.
When nothing was there, we gave them a flyer.
That's how the first week passed.
After 10 days we had to - Luke was stolen on the 8th of July - leave India because our visa was about to expire.
We couldn't extend the visa in India, we had to leave India,
get a new visa, and come back.
So we flew to Sri Lanka.
That was our original plan, with car and everything but then we cancelled the shippment etc.
Then we were in Sri Lanka, got a new visa for India.
We were also looking for a job there too, because we wanted to stay close to Luke.
Then we found a job but for the next season only.
For us this was better than nothing though.
So we made a plan, and wanted to fly back to Chennai and continue with the search.
But we would have to drive to Nepal, because we had another problem:
our car had to leave India, because it was only allowed to be in India for 6 months.
If the car overstays, you have to pay 200% of the value of the car and
and another 50% in addition.
... a huge amount of money ...
There is no way to extend the stay of the car.
Finally we were back in Chennai and got to know Vijaya.
And Vijaya started to help us inedible much.
She drove everywhere with us, she talked to Rickshaw drivers, etc, etc..
And that were all things, that we couldn't do on our own because
many Rickshaw drivers don't speak English.
It is so much better if there is someone who speaks the language and who can explain them the situation in the right way.
Many people here have a different way of thinking, alone we had many communication problems.
We couldn't have reached so many rickshaw drivers on our own and also not in the way Vijaya reached them.
Vijaya wanted her cellphone number to be on the posters.
She said, "I will do the phone calls, I will do everything, I want to find Luke."
When we were driving together in the car, I heard her answering every call and explaining the situation over and over again.
I am not sure, if we would have found Luke without Vijaya's help.
It is incredible that someone, who you have never met before,
took so much of her free time to help us.
And she didn't even want anything in return.
We searched for another 10 days after we were back from Sri Lanka.
We distributed more posters,
and we started to do advertisements in newspapers.
We started to print emotional fliers.
Those were distributed together with newspapers.
At that time were almost 3 weeks over already, and we though:
if money doesn't change anything - the reward has been announced for the past 3 weeks -
it is so much money but no one comes and brings our dog back.
We were hoping, that emotions would make a change.
(The place where Luke was stolen) So we wrote who we are, where we come from and what Luke means to us.
(Posters at Petrol Stations) And that we just want him back, no questions asked.
We did all this during the first month.
We also wrote a letter to every vet in Chennai.
There are a lot of vets in Chennai, we ended up contacting 240 vets by letter.
We included pictures and Luke's micro chip number and asked them to share this with other vets and pet shops.
We tried to reach as many places that are involved with dogs as possible.
There are a lot of illegal breeders in Chennai, many people in India want to have a dog these days,
but most people want a Labrador or a Husky or whatever is 'modern' ...
There are so many street dogs and street puppy's that need to be rescued
but most of them never find a home.
And on the other hand you see breeders being sold out because they don't have black Labradors anymore ...
The worst was, that many illegal breeders told us:
"My customers a people who are educated and who have money."
But these customers don't think about the parents.
They just look at the puppy, and the pup is OK, happy and healthy, so they buy them.
But most illegal breeders - it is illegal for a reason - breed stolen dogs, the dogs are kept in small cages or on short leashes.
And these things can only exist because people buy the puppy's.
These people have the money to buy a puppy from a legal breeders, they have legal breeders in India too.
And people could always drive to the breeders home and have a look what it is like there.
That was the saddest thing we explored while we were searching-
We drove through Chennai for hours, tried to talk to Rickshaw drivers etc.
Eventually, we had to leave Chennai.
Because our car had to leave India.
Our only option was to drive to Nepal, because we didn't have a visa for Pakistan, and it is diffecult to get it.
Myanmar is the same.
Nepal is the only country you can just drive to and get a visa on arrival.
Nepal was about 3000 km away from Chennai.
Leaving Luke behind, not knowing if he was well... it sucked.
So we drove north. Suddenly, after 400 km our engine made funny noises.
... damn ...
We had planned the trip with a bit extra time, because no one know what could happen. 3 000 km on Indian roads are quite a lot.
Steffen took the engine apart and we saw that one piston was damaged.
Some kind of brass thing broje off the valve
and that destroyed the piston.
Later we saw, that the valve must have been hold open somehow, so a bit brass got into the air diffuser.
and from there into another piston.
but that piston was not broken, it still works, only the one piston was completely destroyed.
so we were in India, where there are no T3 spare parts anywhere, we had time pressure, and ...
It all sucked, but compared to the situation with Luke it wasn't so dramatic.
It wasn't as bad as it would have been under normal circumstances.
We had time pressure, so we had to make decisions and organize a few things.
One option was, to get the car back to Chennai and to put it into a container back to Germany,
We thought about stopping this journey... We.. were just so sad.
The other option was to transport the car to Hyerabad and ask for an extention of stay for the car.
At that time we had heard that it is possible sometimes to extend the stay of the car, but it is not guaranteed.
If they didn't give us the extention, we would have had to transport the car to Nepal.
Which costs a lot of money, but compared to the fine you have to pay for overstaying, it is not so much...
We had one night to decide, because we had to make the decision as fast as possible...
So we also talked to our friends and family a lot,
in the end it was Steffen's dad who ---
- to be honest, I actually wanted the journey to be over. - - I wanted to go back to Chennai, search, and at some point go back to Germany -
Steffen's dad said: "Everything that is broken can be fixed, especially cars."
"You wanted to drive to Nepal, stick with it, I will help you as much as I can from here."
"I will try to get all the parts that are needed."
"How to get all the parts to India, is a different problem."
"But for now, bring the car to Hyderabad, I will do everything here."
"You can try to get the extension of stay for the car."
"So you can continue driving to Nepal, and you will also stay close to Luke"
"That's also what you wanted to do before the car broke down."
So we decided to do that.
We transported the car to Hyderabad and went to the Indian Customs.
That was a small chaos, especially because we didn't have a lot of time.
To get the car transported to Nepal takes a lot longer than to drive there by yourself.
That's why we were afraid, that we wouldn't get the extension for our car,
and then we also woudln't have had enough time to transport the car to Nepal.
All that wasn't so great ...
Luckily, in the end it all worked out.
We were quite relived and we got an extension for 1,5 months.
Steffen's dad somehow managed to collect all the engine parts that we needed.
The packadge would have weight over 20 kg. So we had to find a way to get it to India.
Shipments are not so easy... DHL says, the shipment takes 10 working days, it always takes longer.
UPS says it takes 3 days, it usually takes a bit longer but at least it doesn't take 5 weeks like it does with DHL.
Wasn't so easy... in addition, the package would have cost more than 600 euros.
+ Custom Taxes, maybe we would have gotten the money back somehow, but it's difficult.
So we stated looking for flights.
Steffen's sister said:
"Guys, I will take one week of work and come to visit you."
So Steffen's sister flew to us with an engine in her suitcase.
She brought us our spare parts.
Although it had been a difficult time for us, it was nice that we got so much support.
Otherwise, this journey would have been over.
Finally, the engine worked again.
Is it supposed to be like that?
It's a smoking car...
The oil light and engine light are off, aren't they?
Then we drove to Nepal.
All I could do from so far away was to keep Luke's story active on Social Media.
All I wanted was for people to talk about Luke, so I wrote texts in English and ask someone to translate everything to Tamil.
I send that message to 1200 breeders in South India.
Vijaya out on new posters for us and spoke to Rickshaw drivers.
Then 3 months passed and we were in Nepal at that time.
I remember one day, we were sitting inside that car, and we said: ...
If he doesn't come back, we must find a way to live with it somehow...
and also... to learn to live with the fact, that we will never know what happened to him...
That was difficult ...
We were not ready to give up.
... You are so cute ...
Vijaya send us a lot of pictures from people who had seen a dog that looked like Luke.
She even went to see many dogs in person, not everyone in India has a smartphone to take pictures.
Many people say: "I am helping you, so you should come to my place and look at the dog."
"It is dependently Luke" that's what many people say as well..
Then you arrive there and it is a brown dog.
Most people were very nice and helpful though.
Then finally, we got one picture ...
- It was in the evening, around 8 or 9 pm -
Vijaya send me a few pictures and asked "Can this be Luke."
I answered, that is can be him. That I couldn't see anything that didn't look like him.
She replied to me, that she will meet these people at her vet.
The people who found him, it had been one woman and two men.
They took a Rickshaw to get to the vet, actually they wanted to meet 1 h after the phone call.
For some reason it took them 2 hours to get to the vet.
When they had called they said: "We found a dog that looks like Luke."
But... usually no one would come to us to show us the dog.
Usually we always had to go to them and look at the dog.
That was the first time that someone really was sure to have the right dog ...
Finally they arrived. Everyone was super excited.
We too but we weren't really there.
They had the micro chip scanner, but the hand was shaking and they couldn't read the number.
Everyone was so excited, and the number matched!
It was Luke's micro chip and everything looked like Luke too.
Vijaya said: "Inside with the dog, inside! Lock him away, I don't want anything to happen to him."
Everything went super fast.
Then she wrote me: "Janin, it's him."
I couldn't believe it. I was so happy and upset at the same time.
I was crying and I showed Steffen my phone and I was just like -
I couldn't talk. And Steffen took the phone, read through everything and then he said:
"What if they put a micro chip into that dog and it has the same number as Luke's?"
He couldn't believe that we had found Luke after such a long time.
And I couldn't believe it either, the micro chip number and the pictures were proof though."
It was a miracle for both of us.
The three people who brought him back requested the reward of 30,000 IND RS.
We had offered a higher reward after 2 months, but only on social media.
On social media we said, we also give you 50,000 IND RS, we just want our dog back.
because I was getting desperate after two months.
So I was thinking, if 30,000 RS is not enough, I will offer more.
Only I did that via social media.
Vijaya continued with hand outs and posters with 30,000 RS.
and these people only knew about the 30,000 RS reward.
And we gave them the 30,000 RS Reward, because ...
First of all, we don't know if they found or returned Luke.
Only Luke knows that.
Of course.. we have our suspicouns ...
We don't think that he has been on the street. Eg.: On his ellbows wasn't any fur left.
It looks like he had been laying a lot.
He doesn't like it at all to be on the leash anymore.
If we walk him on the leash, it is okay, but if he is tied to a tree or something, he really doesn't like it.
Well, it is not that bad, but he is not as relaxed as he used to be.
We think that he was tied somewhere.
He got food and everything. He wasn't skinny, but he lost a lot of muscles and gained a bit fat.
He also had scapies, that why his fur was missing at some points.
And it was itching him as well.
But that was not bad at all, it's gone again already.
Maybe he was set free after 3 months and then these people found him.
Unfortunately, we don't know ...
We promised the reward to the person who brings us Luke back.
We kept that promise ...
It is just a mean situation, because you have suspicions, but no proof.
And you don't want to reward the person who did this to you.
But... What other options do you have?
We had told the police about Luke, they also have been looking for him but with no success.
We always said, "Our one and only job is it to get Luke back, and not to punish the people who took him."
"Both is simply too difficult, it was almost too difficult already to get Luke back."
The Video was quite long, and I have manly been talking about everything that happened before we got Luke back.
But that's exactly how we felt as well.
It all took so long.
And suddenly it all happened so fast. One phone call, two hours later we had Luke.
We were hoping that it would happen like this, but if you don't know if the right phone call ever comes ...
That was awful.
Steffen and I were in Pokhara at that time, so we took the next bus to Kathmandu.
We spend one night in Kathmandu - the ride took 8 or 9 hours - .
On the next day we flew over Dehli to Chennai.
2 days after Luke was found we saw him again,on the 23th of October.
We found Luke in the end of October. In the middle of December our work starts in Sri Lanka.
So we had enough time to go hiking with Luke in Nepal. I think he really enjoyed it.
Right now we are still in Nepal, in a few days we will catch the train to Chennai.
We will stay there for one week.
Then we will fly to Sri Lanka for work.
We recorded a few videos before we left, we will edit them when we have time.
So there will finally be a few more uploads again.
We want to upload a few more "technical" videos and new episodes.
Luke, you want to go for a walk?
Thanks to everyone who helped us during this time. Every message helped us and most important of all, every message gave us HOPE.
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