A few dozen of Whale Bay’s dog-lover community came together amid mud and rain at the local reserve last week to give “a beautiful send-off” to a pet lost in a fire which razed a three-storey Calvert Rd home.
A Raglan-wide search over several days for the missing three year old dog, Laila, had earlier ended in heartache when her remains were found in the rubble of the blaze.
Flowers and mementos were arranged, shrine-like, at an oceanside spot on the edge of the local reserve where residents – half of them with their dogs – gathered to share memories beneath a mostly sombre sky.
Laughter erupted when one nosy barker, intrigued by the mournful drone, got comically close to a didgeridoo. Soon after, another dog howled along to the sound of bagpipes brought along by a local.
The send-off with a difference came after housemates Dominico Zapata and Margherita Medici lost not only Laila but also all their possessions as the home they shared burnt down. Dom and young son Kainoa were away at Mt Maunganui that weekend while housemate Margherita was there but escaped unharmed.
“We didn’t realise Laila was up in the third storey at the time,” Dom told the Chronicle. “We thought she’d got out.”
But days of fruitless searching and appeals to the public on Raglan Notice Board for sightings of their four-legged friend were in vain.
“I went back to the house and started digging through the rubble (and found her),” says Dom.
“So many people had spent so many hours looking … it was nice to give her a beautiful send-off.”
Whale Bay reserve was one of Laila’s favourite places, Dom adds. “It will be good to come here and surf and know she’s around.”
Dom, a freelance photographer, and Marghe who is studying naturopathy, had recently taken over rental of the property from friends and previous tenants Sam and Tiska who have returned to Europe. Dom had cared for Laila since their departure.
A fundraising dinner was held downtown at INDI cafe last Friday night for the pair.
Funds are also being raised for Marghe and Dom – who were not insured – through a Givealittle page set up by friend Nina Dunyach. She says the “passionate surfers and ocean-lovers” have lost all their surfboards and wetsuits, along with work gear including cameras and laptops.
More than $18,000 had been donated by early this week.
