Zuri, the Jack Russel, did her particular Lassie-Come-Home journey, crossing Spain from the south coast to the north… or not.

This 6-year-old dog belongs to a young Basque woman who has lived in Nerja for the last 10 years, but back on the 12th of August Zuri disappeared only to turn up a month later in Bilbao on the north coast of Spain, almost 1,000 kilometres away.

The owner explained that she is from that city and her dog had travelled with her several times over the years when she goes to see her family.

In fact, the owner is more inclined to think that out of sheer coincidence somebody from Bilbao had been holidaying in Nerja and had ‘adopted’ Zuri. At some point when the ‘new owner’ had been around the areas of the city that her real owners usual visit, the dog must have escaped.

It was a couple of Basque regional policemen (Ertaintza) that found her wandering about dragging a lead from her collar. When Zuri disappeared in Nerja she had nothing attached to her collar.

Of course, the microchip that Zuri had under her skin was crucial to establishing her owner; i.e., Jone Jauregui, her ID number and telephone number.

Jone will be going up this Christmas – as she always does – and will pick Zuri up then, who will be staying with Jone’s brother until then… that is if this particular Jack Russel doesn’t decide to trot off to Vladivostok in the meantime.

(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)