The late French actor Alain Delon’s wish that his pet dog be put down and buried with him has been rejected by his children after an outcry from animal rights campaigners.
The actor, who died aged 88 on Sunday, had said he wished the animal, a 10-year-old Belgian malinois called Loubo, to be “put to sleep” and laid in his grave in the cemetery of his home in the village of Douchy in the Loiret.
On Tuesday, after activists expressed dismay at the prospect of a healthy animal being put down and offered to find the dog a new home, it was announced Loubo would live.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation said Delon’s daughter Anouchka had confirmed the family would keep the dog.
“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.
Earlier in the day, sparking some confusion, the foundation had announced on social media the dog would be spared before deleting the posts.
The SPA, France’s equivalent of the RSPCA, was among a number of animal organisations that had expressed concern at Delon’s declared wish for his companion, writing: “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.”
There is no law in France preventing owners putting down their animals but it is for individual vets to decide whether to carry out their wishes.
Delon created a chapel in a cemetery containing the remains of at least 35 of his dogs in the wooded grounds of his home, La Brûlerie, 85 miles south-east of Paris, which he bought in the early 1970s.
It was here on Sunday, in a rare show of unity, that his three children, Anthony, 59, Anouchka, 33, and Alain-Fabien, 30, announced their father had died peacefully with them at his side. Loubo, adopted from a refuge by Delon in 2014, was included in the children’s announcement of the actor’s death.
“Alain-Fabien, Anouchka, Anthony, as well as Loubo, are deeply saddened to announce the passing of their father,” their joint statement read.
“He’s my end of life dog … I love him like a child,” Delon told Paris Match in 2018. “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 added: “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.”
After that interview, the animal association 30 Million Friends condemned what it called the “convenience” euthanasia of a perfectly healthy dog, saying it hoped Loubo would be adopted.
“If he had to go before Loubo, his faithful malinois, and no one – which I doubt – was in a position to take care of him, the 30 Million Friends Foundation would obviously take on the task of finding someone trustworthy to ensure his wellbeing,” Reha Hutin, the foundation’s president said at the time.
Delon’s daughter Anouchka posted a photograph of Loubo on Instagram in July last year with the message: “Wherever there’s an unfortunate person, God sends a dog. Thank you, Loubo, for being there for your master.”
In March this year she posted another picture of Loubo on guard outside Delon’s home with the caption: “Guardian of the temple … With him there’s no betrayal, no calculation, only love.”
In a 1996 television interview, when asked what animal he would choose to be reincarnated as, Delon replied without hesitation: “A malinois.”
Reports suggest Delon will be buried at his Douchy home “in the strictest privacy” this week though no further details have been given by the family. Before his death the actor said he did not want a national ceremony similar to that organised after the deaths of Johnny Hallyday and Charles Aznavour, but wished to be buried “like anyone else”.
