Is the story of the dog Zhuzhi, who saved the girl after the Spitat earthquake?

On many resources, you can read the touching story of a mongrel, which made a feat in the days of a natural disaster in Armenia in 1988. We checked the authenticity of this story.

According to publications, hundreds of grave stones with different dates of birth and the same date of death - December 7, 1988, in the cemetery of the Armenian city of Spitak. On that day, a large earthquake claimed 25,000 human lives. Among all these monuments, there is supposedly one without a cross and surname, only with the name of Zhuzha.

This dog lived in the courtyard of a nine -story building, on the ground floor of which the Saryan family lived: mom, dad, son Ruben and daughter Lala. During the earthquake, the parents died, and the one -year -old girl saved herself with a miracle - she rolled down the stove in the basement of the building, where a dog of Zhuzha was under the wreckage with her. For four days, Zhuzha warmed the baby and fed her milk. Understanding that the rescuers would leave soon - they reacted only to human voices - the dog bit Lala slightly, and the girl’s piercing scream saved them both of the life. Zhuzha allegedly lived in the house of Ruben, Lala and their grandparents for another 12 years, after which the heroic dog was buried in the city cemetery along with people.

This story, often accompanied by two photographs: dogs against the backdrop of blockages and graves with a figurine of a dog head - can be read on sites All -Russian Voluntary Fire Society, "Culturology.rf","Picabu" Fishki.netas well as in "VKontakte" Telegram and Facebook (there are publications with 1100, 977, 480 And 342 reposts at the time of writing this analysis).

December 7, 1988 at 11:41 Local time in the northern part of the Armenian SSR, a strong earthquake, which has taken off their lives about 25,000 people and left almost half a million local residents without beds. The epicenter of the earthquake was near the small city of Spitat, which took on the main blow - more than half of all victims lived there.

In the preceding tragedies, the days in the Spitak region were Fixed Several hundred messages about the unusual behavior of animals, primarily dogs. They could not convey their concerns to people, but their specially trained relatives from different countries accepted their active participation In the search for the survivors. Sometimes real miracles occurred - like in situationsWhen the dogs found a newborn girl without a single scratch under the rubble blocks.

Nevertheless, “verified” did not find in authoritative sources dedicated to the Spitat earthquake, history, at least a little similar to the one that bypassed the Internet. In some books An unconfirmed case of salvation of a girl is given, which a fluffy cat, not a dog, heated for three days with the warmth of her body.

There are numerous inconsistencies in viral posts. So, in the text it is said that there is no cross, stars or photographs on the grave of Zhuzhi. However, this statement is accompanied by pictures in which a monument to the dog with the inscription and sculpture is visible, apparently, a buried animal.

However, the sculpture is not at all like a dog from another picture, which is often included in viral publications.

As the reverse search service shows in images Google, a dog sitting on the ruins, is a mongrel by name RIPwho during World War II participated in search and rescue works in the UK and received a medal for courage. The photograph used in viral posts was taken in 1941 and Store In the Imperial Military Museum in London (and is also used on a page about RIP in Wikipedia).

Photos of an unusual dog grave are made on Animal cemeterylocated a few kilometers from Riga. Doberman, whose memory was so honored, was called Jerome Normans Iriss. And Spitat cemetery It looks completely different.

In addition, according to report The Research Institute of Semm-Great Construction (EERI), in the late 1980s, the only nine-story building in the Spitat district was a large-panel type, and such buildings did not suffer from an earthquake either in Spitaka or a large extent destroyed Leninakan (now Gyumri).

There are other details in the distributed versions of the story that give out obvious fiction. So, if the fact (but not motive) of the dog’s bite could still be determined by the traces of the teeth, then describing his fall into the basement and subsequent careful care of Zhuzh (including exotic breastfeeding), the one -year -old Lala would hardly be able to.

The text about Zhuzha began to spread in the fall of 2015, and the name of its author was indicated in the early publications - Roman Drive. Shights - a writer, in his bibliography there are more Large works. Apparently, the first publication of the story called “Zhuzha” was for some reason deleted, but later the author put the text on his pages on various resources, such as “Prose.ru" And Cont.ws. Note that initially the story was distributed without incorrect photographs. “Verified” turned to the stroke with a request for a comment - he read the messages, but did not answer them.

Apparently, the story of Zhuzha was largely inspired by other sources. Legends about dogs saving their owners during earthquakes have been going on for centuries. So, after the Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 appeared story About how the dog, before the start of the underground shocks, pulled out a little girl out of the stroller and ran out of the house, thereby preserving her life. In one of the later bike options, the dog was called Julbars, she lived in the family of Ashgabat Armenians, and buried her as if as a person, erecting a monument on the grave (it was not possible to confirm all these facts). In addition, c a number of sources Approvedthat in the same 1988, when the Spitat earthquake occurred, in Portugal allegedly erected a monument to a dog named Zhuzh, who saved their owners during a fire.

Thus, the story of a wonderful Spitat dog is not confirmed by real sources and has multiple signs of fiction. Internet users reinforce this text with pictures that have nothing to do with Armenia, and its author has never positioned the story as a documentary.

Photo on the cover: social networks

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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