Reuters — Loukoumakis the dog cowered in a corner for two days until he was found by animal rescuers in the ashen devastation of Mati in Greece, traumatized and seemingly unable to move.
“Even its eyelashes are burned, I wonder how this dog survived,” said Diana Topali, who is offering Loukoumaki foster care as the dog sat next to her.
Loukoumakis, as he has been named by a vet, is believed to be a stray, aged about four and a half years.
Artemis Kyriakopoulou, an animal rescue volunteer, was out searching with others when she came across him as she tried to gain access to another garden and lured him out with a tin of dog food.
“I saw there was something like an (outdoors) oven, and I figured if anything were alive, it would be in there,” Kyriakopoulou, 21, told Reuters Television.
Hundreds of pets and strays are believed to have perished in the blaze, which swept through the seaside town in a matter of hours.
“He just looked like a burned shaggy rug,” Topali said.
Today Loukoumakis has been groomed, is on antibiotics and is slowly recovering.
He will stay with Topali until he finds his forever home.
Reuters: Deborah Kyvrikosaios, Idyli Tsakiri
