A Gate Left Open

22 February 2024, Blue Bay, Mauritius

We were supposed to fly home to Switzerland that evening. Supposed to.

Then everything happened at once. Our flight was cancelled and pushed back to the following evening. Mauritius issued a cyclone warning and asked people to stay indoors and to leave their garden gates open so that strays could come in and find shelter.

That is how our story with Sunny began. She took shelter in our garden that night and slept on a mat outside the terrace door. We lay awake, hoping she would have moved on by morning. While I lay there, the Boney M. song "Sunny" kept running through my head. When morning came and she was still there, following us everywhere we went, even into the sea when we went for a swim, I could feel a decision coming.

Suddenly everything had to happen quickly. We had sworn on everything we hold dear that we would not adopt another dog from Mauritius, and yet there we were, calling Lorena from The Animal House Rescue and Peggy from South Sterilisation to ask for help. Dogs entering Switzerland need a rabies vaccination at least three weeks before departure, so we knew Sunny could not fly home with us.

Lorena agreed to take Sunny in until she was ready to travel and to organise all the vaccinations and paperwork. Peggy was there straight away to look after her and then drive her up to Lorena in the north of the island. Everything ran better than Swiss clockwork, and almost exactly three weeks later we were finally able to wrap our arms around Sunny at Zurich Airport, thanks to a flight buddy who brought her over.

What followed was a hard time for all of us, and it took more strength than we expected. We could not give her the freedom and the easy, unhurried energy of Mauritius in busy little Switzerland, and it brought out a lot of fear and restlessness in her, and aggression too. But we kept going. We found kind people who helped us, and we put in a great deal of time and, above all, love. After a year and a half, we felt that Sunny had truly arrived and that she trusted us.

Six months ago we were able to make our own dream come true and moved to South Africa. Here by the sea, with the long sandy beaches, the wide open space and the relaxed people, Sunny and we have found a new home. We have never seen her this happy.

Whenever we look into Sunny's eyes, we also see the wonderful people who devote themselves to the strays of Mauritius. We will never forget you.