A loyal coronavirus dog waits patiently in Chinese hospitals every day for more than three months to be reunited with the owner he loves.
Unfortunately, the retiree was killed by an insect after only five days at Wuhan Taikang Hospital, staff said.
The little dog won the hearts of caring workers at the hospital after he arrived with elderly owners during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in February.
Unaware that the owner would not return, the seven-year-old male dog waited in the lobby of Taikang Hospital for more than three months, searching everywhere for him. Patients who passed by and kind-hearted medical staff finally fed pining dogs.
Wu Cuifen, who runs a supermarket in the building, told reporters that he learned that the dog’s owner was being treated with complications from Covid-19, and was suffering from pneumonia.
He tried to send the dog away from the hospital – but to no avail. Wu Cuifen decided to take care of the dog for a while, and he named it Xiaobao, or “Little Treasure”.
From April 13, after Wuhan lifted the lock restriction and the hospital supermarket reopened, he was treated by shopkeepers. Wu said: “I first noticed the little dog when I returned to work in mid-April. I call him ‘Xiaobao’.
Xiao Bao was on his way to the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association.AsiaWire / Wuhan SAPA
“They told me the owner, a retiree, was treated with coronavirus.
“Then he died, but Xiaobao didn’t know and just stayed in the hospital looking for him.
“He never left the hospital. That was very touching, and very loyal. “
Wu Cuifen’s supermarket is on the first floor of the hospital. He added: “I became familiar with dogs and then took them to the shop.
“Every morning when I open, Xiaobao will be there waiting for me. He drove me at the end of every day. “
Ms Wu said Xiaobao refused to leave the hospital. Even when they deliberately dropped him off somewhere far away, he would return to Taikang Hospital and patiently wait for the owner to return.
“Even though Xiaobao cannot speak, we understand that he must still be looking for the owner,” he told reporters.
However, finally, some patients do not want their dogs to roam around the hospital and complain to their boss. So the nurses contacted the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association, whose members took Xiaobao. He has been treated by a veterinarian and has also been sterilized as he prepares to be transferred.
The shelter now checks animal lovers who have offered to foster Xiaobao, associate director Du Fan said on May 24. Wu said he hoped that Xiaobao could find an owner who would treat him well.
