Dh30,000 search for her missing dog Jiku: 'I cannot accept that this is where our story ends'

Dubai: Over two months after Jiku disappeared from Al Mushrif in Abu Dhabi, the reward for his safe return has doubled to Dh30,000, after a Dubai businesswoman who heard his story added Dh15,000 of her own.

Speaking to Gulf News, Priyanka Tamang said she is really worried, and hoping that all of this results in Jiku coming home. She said she is thankful for everyone who has helped so far, and that she still refuses to give up.

"I don't know where Jiku is, but I cannot accept that this is where our story ends. I have done nothing to deserve losing him forever, and I will not stop searching until I find him."

The clearest lead the search has produced came on 5 August, near the home Tamang lived in before she moved. It's also the one that has stayed with her the most, because of how narrowly it slipped away.

"On 5 August, Jiku was sighted near our old house, close to the dumpster," she said. "The hardest part is that we were in the same area, but our timing never aligned. He was seen there in the morning, while we were searching there later at night."

For a moment, it looked like the search might finally be over. "When we heard about that sighting, we were so hopeful that this might finally be the moment we would bring him home. But as the days passed without another confirmed sighting, that hope slowly faded and it was devastating all over again."

There has been no confirmed sighting since.

Tamang began with a Dh5,000 reward when Jiku first went missing on 3 July, two days after she and her fiancé moved house within Al Mushrif. Dubai-based Gulf Invest Real Estate later stepped in and helped raise that to Dh15,000.

The latest contribution came after a representative from Dubai-based Home Finder came across Jiku's story. "She told me that when her dog was sick for just two days, she was devastated. When she saw what we have been going through with Jiku, she felt our pain," Tamang said. "She told me she wanted to do something that might help bring him back. She wants me to be able to hold Jiku in my arms again."

The reward now stands at Dh30,000, with no questions asked for whoever returns him. "If someone found him and thought he had been abandoned, we understand," Tamang said. "If someone is feeding him or keeping him safe, we are grateful. We just need them to know that he has a family who has never stopped looking for him."

Tamang described the emotional distance between the early weeks of the search and where she is now, and it isn't the shape most people would expect.

"In July, I was completely heartbroken. I could barely eat or sleep properly because Jiku was constantly on my mind, and there were days when I felt like I was losing hope."

Two months on, something has shifted. "Now, strangely, even though more than two months have passed, I feel more hopeful. So many people across the UAE have come forward to help, and I've heard of dogs being reunited with their families even after many months or years."

She has developed a way of coping with the length of the search. "I have sort of created a wall inside my head to avoid negativity. Even now when I wake up I hope it had been a dream."

Tamang's working theory is that Jiku is safe, cared for by someone who simply hasn't connected him to the search.

"I keep thinking that maybe the one person who has seen Jiku simply hasn't seen our posts yet. It could be someone who isn't active on social media, an elderly person, or someone who just doesn't follow the news."

It's why she has kept circulating flyers and microchip details to veterinary clinics across the UAE for two months, rather than confining the search to social media, where a large part of her theory is that the right person may never see a post at all.

The search has also exposed her to something considerably harder to sit with. Prank calls have continued throughout, some opening with the words she has been waiting to hear, "I have your dog," before turning into mockery.

Even so, she says she cannot stop answering. "We cannot take that chance. Even if we receive ten prank calls, the eleventh call could be somebody who has actually seen Jiku. So we answer every call."

Jiku is a male Maltese, approximately two years old, and microchipped. He has been missing since 3 July from the Al Mushrif area near Mushrif Mall in Abu Dhabi.

The reward for his safe return is now Dh30,000, no questions asked. Anyone with information, even if uncertain whether the dog they saw was Jiku, is asked to contact Priyanka Tamang on +971 56 298 0817 or +971 55 610 5319.