Family refuses Alain Delon’s dying wish to bury his dog with him
The family of the late Alain Delon have defied the French actor’s dying wish for his pet dog to be euthanised and buried alongside him.
The 88-year-old star, who died on Sunday, asked that upon his death, his 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, called Loubo, be humanely killed and laid alongside him in his village cemetery of Douchy.
However, the request was met with dismay from animal rights activists across France, who condemned the request and offered to find the dog a new home instead.
On Tuesday, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation announced that Delon’s daughter Anouchka said the dog would now stay with the family.
“Loubo will, of course, not be euthanised,” the French animal charity said on X, formerly Twitter. “’He has his home and his family’, confirmed the actor’s relatives who will take care of him,” it added.
Delon was one of France’s most celebrated actors, often described as “the French Sinatra” for his ravishing good looks.
The star of Le Samoura? treasured the remains of at least 35 of his deceased dogs on the grounds of his sprawling home in La Br?lerie, 85 miles south-east of Paris, where he had resided since the early 1970s. In a 2018 interview, he told French magazine Paris Match that Loubo was his “end of life dog”.
“I’ve had 50 dogs in my life, but I have a special relationship with this one… he misses me when I’m not there,” he said.
“If I die before him, I’ll ask the vet to take us away together. He’ll put him to sleep in my arms. I’d rather do that than know that he’ll let himself die on my grave with so much suffering.”
France’s equivalent of the RSPCA, The SPA, was among numerous animal rights organisations to criticise his wish that Loubo die with him.
“The life of an animal should not depend on that of a human. The SPA is happy to take his dog and find it a family,” it said.
There is no law in France that prohibits owners from putting down their animals when they die. But it is at the discretion of individual vets to decide whether or not to carry out the wishes of the deceased.
