WORLD’S OLDEST DOG [FT429:13, 430:25, 439:23]
When he died last October at the apparent age of 31, Bobi the Rafeiro do Alentejo mastiff held the record for not only the world’s oldest living dog, but also the record for the oldest dog ever. His owners, the Costa family from the village of Conqueiros in Portugal, attributed Bobi’s longevity to a “calm, peaceful environment”, but post-mortem scrutiny of Bobi’s life suggested that all was not as it seemeds. Suspicions about the veracity of Bobi’s age claim caused Guinness World Records (GWR) to suspend his records while further investigation was carried out.
Among the factors causing doubt is a photo taken in 1999 and claimed by his owners to be of Bobi that shows a dog with different coloured paws to the one that died last year. In addition, his claim to longevity rested on his entry in the Portuguese national pet database, which wasDNA analysis confirmed that the dog was indeed old, but could not be used to verify that his age was beyond his breed’s usual lifespan.
