A couple of young men set off illegal fireworks – and so scare the Ridgeback Duke that he runs away. 20 kilometers away, from the Maximilianeum to Germering, where it runs onto the Lindau autobahn.
Duke was a playful, curious, sometimes clumsy dog. He was only nine months and sometimes it seemed like he didn’t know how tall he really was. Rhodesian Ridgebacks are imposing dogs, and Duke too came almost to my waist. But he was always kind to people and gentle to other dogs, even if his game often looked wild. He was happy to be chased by my dachshund, who is only a little bigger than his brown-black snout was alone.
Duke had done well in his short canine life. He lived in what is probably Munich’s largest Ridgeback pack with two masters who in turn live for dogs, not just for theirs. Every morning Willy and Wolf come with their impressive pack of their own Ridgebacks and numerous other dogs they look after to go for a walk in the Maximiliansanlagen on the Haidhauser Isar high bank.
It is like in many parks of the city among dog owners: You meet almost every day, watch the animals play, chat about dogs, this and that. The day before New Year’s Eve we talked about the gluttony and how fearful it is in so many Dogs, unless a pandemic is calming down the New Year’s break. Wolf has become really angry about the every year bang, which often literally scares so many wild animals and birds to death.
Nobody could have guessed what would happen that evening. A couple of young men set off illegal fireworks at the Maximilianeum, which made it all the louder. And Duke started walking. He ran as fast as he could, no longer responding to whistles or calls. He was in a panic, soon out of sight and gone. Ridgebacks are very fast dogs.
This was followed by calls for help on social media, a helpless twittering from the Haidhauser dog owner community. Duke didn’t come back that night. It was said that he was seen in Trappentreustraße in the Westend. But all searches were unsuccessful. Duke was a lot farther away, sometimes appearing here in gardens in the west of Munich, sometimes there, but he didn’t let anyone stop him. When New Year’s Eve got dark, in his disoriented fear he was already 20 kilometers away from his pack. Near Germering he ran onto the Lindau Autobahn, ran into a car and was dead.
“Our grief and pain are incredible,” write Willy and Wolf. So is your anger. “Help everyone with us,” they call for a ban on fireworks after Corona as well: “This alleged fun and tradition causes so much cruelty and suffering to animals and pets.” And Duke, her playful giant, didn’t survive her. He only played one summer.