A dog expert has shed light on the sad truth about Gene Hackman’s surviving dogs following their owners’ deaths. Gene and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s bodies were found in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on February 26, with authorities concluding that they had died sometime earlier.
On Friday, authorities said Gene died of heart disease and complications from Alzheimer’s disease one week after his wife died of a rare rat-borne disease. One of their three dogs, a Kelpie mix named Zinna, was also found dead, but her cause of death is currently unknown. Following the triple tragedy, Gene’s surviving dogs, German Shepherd Bear and German Shepherd mix Nikki, were left roaming around the Santa Fe mansion for weeks, alone and without care.
A clinical animal behaviourist said that the ordeal will have been “very traumatic” for the helpless dogs, particularly because they would have been starving and thirsty.
Rosie Bescoby said: “It would have been very traumatic for the dogs. Not only because it's the fact that they're witnessing their owners lifeless and non-responsive, but also, I presume they would have been hungry. They would have been thirsty. They would not have had their normal routine.”
Discussing the impact the deaths may have had on the two dogs, Ms Bescoby said that being left in a house with their unresponsive owners and without anyone caring for them would have been “hugely stressful” and they may have felt “abandoned”.
Ms Bescoby explained to The Mirror that dogs don’t experience grief in the same as humans, but that they can suffer from depression after the loss of a loved one. She revealed: “They definitely show a type of freefall depression. We know they form very, very strong bonds with humans… and they're likely to suffer when that person is no longer available.”
She even heartbreakingly explained that the dogs could “turn to each other for comfort or stay quite aloof with each other”. The animals could even “turn on each other” because the “stress levels are that high”.
The dogs are currently being held at a boarding facility in Santa Fe with their future uncertain. It was reported earlier this week that the dogs can’t be rehomed until Gene and Betsy’s wills are reviews.
A pathologist said that two-time Oscar winner Hackman, 95, was likely at home alone with the body of his wife for a week before he died himself.
The post-mortem examination showed Betsy, 65, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome – a rare but potentially fatal disease which spreads to humans through infected rodent droppings or saliva.
Dr Heather Jarrell, chief medical examiner for New Mexico, told a press conference in Santa Fe it was “reasonable to conclude” that Ms Hackman died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome on February 11 at the couple's home in Santa Fe.
Hackman died a week later on February 18 of “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributory factor”, the expert said.
Dr Jarrell said: “Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease. He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that is what resulted in his in his death.”
Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Betsy's last known outing was a round of errands and shopping February 11. She visited a pharmacy, pet shop and picked up groceries before returning to their gated neighbourhood that evening. The experts found that Betsy stopped answering emails on that day.
Gene's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later, indicating an abnormal heart rhythm on February 18, the day authorities say he likely died.
