I looked at him, leaning against the railing overlooking the bank of the river Black Sea that bathes Yalta, his heart tensed. He was so immersed in his melancholy that even the tender passers-by now and then seemed as if he were seeing the long-awaited and longed-for master, who, however, would never return. Here, finally and when you think about it, is the incredible story of Mukhtar it’s all here.
The shark, which is over a hundred years old, is reappearing in the Caribbean: it was born in 1505 and is the oldest animal in the world
The story of Mukhtar
A story full of desires and endless expectations that reached its climax and probably only finally came true with the death of what was called the Hachiko of Crimea. Yes, because like his distant Japanese cousin, Mukhtar was desperate: his missing master, who had died years before, had never returned. Still, he had waited for him. In the usual place. As always. For twelve very long years Mukhtar had gone to the sea hoping for a miracle that would never happen.
The sad dog’s story had begun many years earlier when a lifeguard adopted him in what someone described as a kind of love at first sight. A shared love that, however, did not have a happy ending some time later. In fact, with the death of the master, the gates of hell would have been opened wide for the big dog. Without a home and without the love that had broken his heart, he had indeed become a true stray. “A few years ago, as more than one resident in the area remembers, he even risked euthanasia.”
Without a collar and leash he became a problem for some. So much so that it was eventually reported to the relevant authorities. A terrible and unjust end that could have been averted by the affection of the many who constantly saw him waiting overlooking the sea. Among them was the trumpeter Viktor Malinovski, who finally decided to take him with him. A fortune for everyone. Especially for Mukhtar, who in turn had to learn to wear a collar and leash again. As he did throughout his life, he gave affection to everyone who came near him. Until he spent most of the last moments of his life looking at the sea. The death of Crimean Hachiko deeply affected the entire community. So much so that even the mayor, Yanina Pavlenkola, agreed to build a monument dedicated to the dog.
It is already commissioned and will be placed right on the spot where Mukhtar stopped every day to look at the sea. “He was more than a dog, now he’s a star,” it was said about him. Love and waiting, the two reasons for life that have so dramatically united the stories of two dogs who are already legends. In fact, Hachiko had also waited in vain for his master to return. The Akita puppy was adopted by an agricultural scientist and university professor when he was just two months old. He accompanied him every day to the train station where his owner took the train to work and was there in the afternoon when he returned. A custom that lasted until the cursed May 21, 1925. That day, Professor Hidesaburo Ueno actually never returned home after suffering a serious illness while studying. For Hachiko, who was waiting for him at the train station as always, it was the beginning of a drama that only ended on March 8, 1935, when he died at the age of only eleven, after a first statue had already been dedicated to him, due to a serious illness. Over the years he had always gone to the train station. However, his never arrived.
Read the full article
on Il Messaggero