You might say this is a Cinderella story Mauritian style! Cinderella is played by Lady, not normally the type of «girl» you could take home to mother. A «girl» that has ?been around the block?, she?s rather small and ordinary looking and as dirty as a stray white dog can get!

Enter Joe Cuddy, a freelance flight attendant and corporate attendant trainer who spent 18 years with British Airways and 12 years with the Concorde, but who never once travelled to Mauritius in all that time. Joe ended up here for the first time when there was a last minute cancellation in his sister?s wedding party. The search for a wedding gift in Grand- Bay found him eventually walking along the picturesque beach. The rest, as they say, is history.

Lady was on the beach with one of her youngsters following close behind when she approached Joe. He said hello to Lady and unlike many other strays, who are very cautious and fearful, she extended her paw. The longer he stayed on the beach, the harder it was to leave. He kept telling her, ?You deserve a better life than this.?

Love-struck with Lady

?Well, everyone thinks I?m crazy?, laughs Joe. ?Either that or I?ve had too much sun!? but he decided there and then on the beach that he had to take her home with him. ?Home? being England! Knowing that there were procedures and quarantine involved, Joe knew he had to get Lady to a veterinarian.

Although he found there was one not far away, not all taxi drivers were as love-struck with Lady as Joe was. They all refused the Rs 2,000 he offered them to take him to Dr. Bourdet in Pointe-aux-Canonniers, which is less than 5 minutes from Grand-Bay. One driver taunted him by asking what Joe would do now that he had been flatly refused. A little voice should have told him that you should never tell an animal-lover that it can?t be done. (Joe has four Jack Russell terriers, 35 parrots and a 55-year old tortoise by the name of Herman, who live with him in Surrey, to the south of London. (He was very interested in the echo parakeet here during his stay and, as a contributing writer to an English parrot publication, he plans to write a story).

A passing Swiss woman not only helped Joe to find Lady, who had wandered off while he was trying to obtain a taxi, but enlisted the help of her more than willing Mauritian brother-in-law to get them to Dr. Bourdet. Once there, Joe purchased a leash and had the initial vaccinations started. A sympathetic client at the veterinarian?s office offered to house Lady overnight while she waited for the MSPCA to pick her up in the morning. Mr. Fouad Karamtally of MSPCA will personally arrange together with Joe for the housing of Lady for the duration of her six-month quarantine and will arrange for the paperwork and balance of vaccinations required. (A footnote to this story is that Lady?s puppy ran off and could not be caught).

In one instant this island «girl» was swept off her feet. With her leash and toys already waiting for her in Surrey, as Joe tells us, this is the story about an island «girl» who has made good - one who has traded one paradise for another.

Rock solid resolve

Like most heroes, Joe doesn?t think that he has done anything special. Regardless of possible ridicule, his resolve was rock solid, his heart captured by the beautiful dignity in the eyes of a living creature that happens, as Joe puts it, to share the same planet.

Thank you for inspiring us Joe and for promising to send us a picture of Lady sleeping contentedly beside a roaring fire. On an island where the realities of a stray dog?s life are only too visible and heartbreaking, thank you for providing a real-life fairy tale!

Angela KEESSOONDYAL