A request by deceased French actor Alain Delon for his pet dog to be put down and buried alongside him has been denied.
The 88-year-old, who died on Sunday, had asked for his pet dog Loubo, a 10-year-old Belgian malinois, to be killed and laid in his grave on the day he is buried.
However, the BBC reports following protests from animal rights activists, Delon’s daughter Anouchka confirmed the dog would not be killed and would stay within the family to live its life to the fullest.
Animal lovers in France condemned Delon’s decision and earlier this week said “the life of an animal should not depend on that of a human.”
There is no law in France that prohibits owners from putting down their pets.
File/French actor Alain Delon shows pictures of two dogs that he was given as a gift by Alexander Lebed, a Russian general and political who died in April 2002 in a helicopter accident in Siberia during his press conference in Moscow, 16 March 2005. (FRANK VILIAGRA/GAZETA/AFP via Getty)
In 2018, the French film legend told Paris Match magazine he wanted to be buried with his “end of life dog” that he loved “like a child.” He said:
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.
If I die before him I will ask the vet to let us go together. He will inject him so that he dies in my arms.
I would rather that than knowing that he would let himself die on my grave with so much suffering.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed the family would keep the dog, the Guardian reports.
“I’ve just had Anouchka Delon on the phone and she has told me that Loubo is part of the family and will be kept. The dog will not be put down,” a foundation spokesperson said.
Delon had been in poor health in recent years and had become a virtual recluse with his last public appearance at Cannes Film Festival in May 2019 where he received an honorary Palme d’Or.