- It was reported that Bobi’s age had been verified by a authorities database
- However it was found that Bobi had been registered on the system in 2022
In October final yr, the world mourned and celebrated the demise and extremely lengthy lifetime of Bobi, the world’s record-breaking oldest canine, or so it appeared.
Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo died in his home in the village of Conqueiros, positioned close to the west coast of Portugal.
The Guinness World Record holder died on the reported age of 31 years and 165 days old and was universally celebrated because the oldest hound to have ever lived as he racked up the equal of 200 human years earlier than passing on.
However, vets have now voiced their doubts about Bobi’s professional age while others have begun asking why there are footage of Bobi supposedly in his younger years with white paws when the canine had brown ones in his latter years.
All of this suspicion has led to the Guinness World Record asserting that they’ve briefly suspended Bobi’s crown of the formally oldest pooch in the meanwhile while an investigation is ongoing.
A spokeswoman for the Guinness World Records mentioned: ‘While our overview is ongoing we have now determined to briefly pause each the file titles for the ‘oldest canine residing’ and the ‘oldest canine ever’ – simply till all of our findings are in place.’
It was extensively reported that the pooch’s age had been formally verified by a Portuguese authorities database.
However, an investigation led by Wired journal found that Bobi had been registered on the system in 2022, only a yr previous to his demise.
Bobi’s proprietor, Leonel Costa acknowledged that the canine had been born in 1992 when Leonel was simply eight years old.
Costa tells of how his dad and mom had too many animals and that that they had no alternative however to place the litter of puppies down earlier than Bobi apparently escaped.
Costa claims that he and his brothers stored the canine’s existence a secret from their dad and mom till the pup was finally found and have become part of the household.
Costa attributed Bobi’s lengthy life to his food plan which consisted of unseasoned human meals in addition to the canine’s freedom to roam unleashed via the forests and farmland.
Despite this declare, an official for the database mentioned that there was ‘no registration or knowledge that may verify or deny this.’
This potential scandal has blown the entire dialog of canine information out of the water.
On paper, it seems as if the subsequent oldest canine to assert the title would go to a 24-year-old Chihuahua named Spike, from Ohio.
Spike’s proprietor, Rita Kimball had beforehand supplied the Guinness World Records with vet information and payments that present the canine to have been born in 1999.
The proprietor has additionally supplied the Guinness World Records with footage of the canine ageing via his lengthy life.
This would imply that Spike has the possibility to ‘paw again’ the title which he briefly held in early 2023 on the then-age of 23 years and 7 days old earlier than Bobi pipped him to it.
However, Kimball does acknowledge that she has not owned Spike since beginning as she found him in a carpark in 2009 earlier than taking him to his eternally home.
A vet then assessed the Chihuahua and predicted his age to be about ten years old.
The Guinness World Records informed Kimball: ‘We are reviewing how we confirm animal age information in the intervening time.’
The organisation then requested that she ought to prepare for a second vet to evaluate the canine to verify his age.
Bobi’s demise was introduced on social media on 23 October by a veterinarian who met Bobi a number of occasions.
Dr Karen Becker wrote: ‘Despite outliving each canine in historical past, his 11,478 days on earth would by no means be sufficient, for individuals who cherished him.’
On the exact same day, Kimball wrote to the organisation to ask what she wanted to do to seek out out whether or not Spike, who continues to be alive, had regained the title of the world’s oldest canine.
As for now, the Guinness World Record’s overview of Bobi’s title will proceed with Bobi’s legitimacy to the title forged below a cloud of suspicion.
