A tweet to Tamil Nadu Minister P Thiaga Rajan helped a Chennai family reunite with their pet dog Ruby, who had been missing for over a month. The Finance Minister is known for his love of dogs, and even has two dogs — Senthil and Shivam — who he adopted for his office in Madurai.
PTR told the New Indian Express that he got in touch with a few animal-rights activists and also got in touch with the Tambaram police commissioner after the matter was flagged to him by TNIE’s resident editor.
On March 15, the dog’s owner Deepu Jain tweeted to PTR saying that the dog, Ruby, had been missing since February 14. “She is missing since 14th feb because of the Negligence of Dogskingdom OMR road where I dropped her for boarding.We r not getting any help Zomato person has taken her but we couldn't trace the bike no. Pls help (sic),” he said.
Animal rights activists then got involved and a coordinated operation was carried out to find Ruby. According to the TNIE report, a small video was created and widely circulated and all the delivery boys in the area were tracked down. The delivery worker who had taken Ruby returned the dog when he realised that cops were involved in the matter.
Once Ruby was reunited with her owners, the Finance Minister tweeted that Ruby was back home “after an ordeal that took her all the way to Mayiladuthurai (~300 km from Chennai)”. He added that while a minister’s focus must be policy and execution, humanity comes first.
A miracle: Ruby is back with @deepu__jain's family today after an ordeal that took her all the way to Mayiladuthurai (~300 km from Chennai)
— Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (@ptrmadurai) March 26, 2022
to @VinodhrajShruti, @AntonyRubin, Saravanan, @DrMRaviIPS1
A minister's focus must be Policy & Execution
But humanity comes first https://t.co/lN468yb9Js pic.twitter.com/xgUXlXNHNC
In Tamil Nadu’s 2022 Budget, PTR had announced the Vallalar Palluyir Kappagangal scheme, to which Rs 20 crore had been allocated for the purpose of supporting NGOs that take care of abandoned and injured pets and stray animals.