Two-Year-Old Girl Missing in Kodagu Coffee Estate Traced Safely With Help of Pet Dog ‘Oreo’

Forest officials and family members with the two-year-old girl after she was rescued from the coffee estate in South Kodagu.

Virajpet: In a remarkable rescue that has drawn widespread praise in Kodagu, a pet dog named ‘Oreo’ played a crucial role in locating a two-year-old girl who had gone missing from a coffee estate situated along the forest boundary. The child, identified as Sunanya, was found after an extensive joint search operation involving forest personnel, local residents and estate workers.

The incident occurred at Kongana village near B. Shettigeri in South Kodagu. Sunil and Nagini, a couple who belong to a family engaged in beekeeping, had taken up work at a private plantation in the area just five days earlier. On Saturday, before leaving for daily estate duties, they left their toddler in the care of other children from the labour line. When they returned, the little girl had vanished, and the other children were unable to explain when she wandered off.

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Alarmed, the parents immediately began searching the premises with fellow workers. When the initial effort yielded no results, the estate owner was informed and a missing-person complaint was lodged with Gonikoppal Police. Given that the estate borders a dense forest patch, the Forest Department swiftly stepped in to assist.

Teams fanned out across the estate and the adjoining woodland. Forest watchers found pugmarks believed to be from a tiger, along with the partially eaten remains of a wild animal close to the fringe area discoveries that heightened fears about the toddler’s safety. Despite this, more than 30 foresters, joined by villagers and estate workers, pressed on with the search late into the night.

Amid the growing anxiety, Oreo, a pet dog belonging to one of the estate families, proved unexpectedly vital. Guided by scent, the dog repeatedly led search teams towards a particular direction inside the estate’s interior paths. This eventually helped rescuers narrow down the search zone, ultimately leading to the child’s safe recovery after nearly two days.

(Note: In accordance with child protection laws and media ethics guidelines, the face of the minor has been blurred to safeguard her identity. The Kodagu Express does not publish identifiable images of children in any news report.)

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