This record’s gone to the dogs.
Bobi the late Portugese pooch was posthumously stripped of his title as “the world’s oldest dog” on Thursday after an investigation failed to prove his old age.
The Guinness World Records (GWR) launched the probe last month over doubts the purebred Rafeiro Alentejano could really have lived to 31 years and 165 days old — well over twice his breed’s life expectancy of only 12 to 14 years.
The review “concluded that GWR no longer has the evidence it needs to support Bobi’s claim as the record holder,” the worldwide record-holding group said Thursday.
“Without any conclusive evidence available to us right now, we simply can’t retain Bobi as the record holder and honestly claim to maintain the high standards we set ourselves,” said GWR’s director of records, Mark McKinley.
Bobi spent his life on a farm in the village of Conqueiros in central Portuga before his death in October.
However, he was still alive when he got the award in February last year, when owner Leonel Costa said Bobi was 30 years and 266 days — shattering the record held since 1939 by an Australian cattle dog that died at 29 years and five months.
But a controversy erupted in January when Bobi’s title had been suspended pending a formal review by GWR, after people questioned why photos taken of the pooch as a puppy and as an older dog seemed to show him with different-colored paws.
“We take tremendous pride in ensuring as best we can the accuracy and integrity of all our record titles,” McKinley said, adding that GWR requires copious evidence to support all titles, including at least two witness statements, pictures and videos.
Microchip data drawn from the official Portuguese database, the SIAC, had been at the heart of Bobi’s claim, but it later emerged that the chipping did not require proof of age for dogs born before 2008.
“With the additional veterinary statement provided as evidence for Bobi’s age also citing this microchip data, we’re left with no conclusive evidence which can definitively prove Bobi’s date of birth,” McKinley wrote.
Costa, Bobi’s owner, previously defended the title, claiming in January that GWR had spent a year looking into his pet’s claim.
Costa has been notified of the results of GWR probe, the organization said, but he has yet to comment on its outcome.
In the wake of the annulment of Bobi’s title, McKinley said that it was too early to speak about a new canine record holder.
“It’s going to take a long time for microchip uptake around the world to catch up with pet ownership, especially of older pets,” he wrote. “Until that time, we’ll require documentary evidence for all years of a pet’s life.”
