It could become a cinematic story, based on real events, with viewers questioning its truth. However, its protagonist, Raika, if she could speak, would leave everyone speechless by narrating how she actually managed to survive for a year alone, from Greece where she was lost, crossing hundreds of kilometers in the Balkans in her attempt to return home via Lyon, France! Eventually, the brave little dog was found about 1000 kilometers away from where she was lost, in the Evros Gardens, at the Serbia-Bosnia border where animal lovers found her a veterinarian, and saw she was wearing a microchip with the details of her French owner!
Raika arrived in Greece in 2023 in a specially designed basket, attached to the bicycle of the Frenchman Remy Dargere, who was traveling. The cyclist and owner lost his on April 7, 2023, near the Greek-Turkish borders, when the one-year-old Raika got scared by stray dogs and ran towards the Evros Gardens. In vain, her owner searched for her, even staying for about a month in Alexandroupoli, where he looked for her with the help of volunteers. One of them, Dora Kyriakidou, stood by him from the very beginning and tirelessly searched for her with him.
“We printed posters with Raika’s picture and recorded the sound of the bell on Remy’s bicycle, to which she responded, so that we could ‘call’ her. We combed a large area searching for her, without losing hope that we would find her, despite our anxiety that if she went to mountainous areas, she would be at risk of being attacked by wolves,” said Ms. Kyriakidou, emphasising that Remy was eventually forced, after a month of searching, to return to France alone.
However, it was not the end of Raika. One year later following her disappearance, she was found in Serbia, near the Bosnia-Herzegovina border, by members of an animal welfare organisation who took her to a veterinarian. They identified her guardian from her microchip, as announced by the president of “Nemesis,” the Panhellenic Federation for the Environment, Animals, and Hunting, Natasha Bobolaki.
The animal welfare organisation “Hope for Dogs Europe,” where Raika was hosted, had even posted a photo of her on its website, in an effort to find her a home. They had named her “Marley” and wrote about her playful nature!
“When they found her through the microchip, and contacted Remy Dargere’s details by phone, he was thrilled! From what he told me, he will come to get her either next Friday or Saturday,” said Ms. Kyriakidou, adding that she believed Raika had decided to return to Lyon on her own. After all, her owner never lost hope in finding his beloved dog again, as he wrote on his Facebook page, “Faith can move mountains!”
