“It’s true that I’m thought of an professional on canine coat shade,” Sheila Schmutz, an emeritus professor of animal and poultry science on the College of Saskatchewan in Canada, advised me. “Not less than by way of genetics.” I despatched Schmutz, who has revealed a number of papers in regards to the coats of canine and cattle, a choice of photographs of Bobi taken in 1999, 2016, and 2022, and requested her whether or not the photographs seemed to be of the identical canine.
Schmutz wasn’t positive. In a couple of photographs Bobi’s fur seemed to be pink, whereas in one other it appeared like he had a brown coat. Brown and pink coats, Schmutz assured me, are two very completely different colours. “I had my husband take a look at the photograph set too and he agrees that we are able to perceive why individuals don’t suppose it’s the identical canine in all of the photographs, however it’s not completely clear to us,” she wrote. “Want this have been extra clearcut …” she signed off her electronic mail.
For certainty, I must look elsewhere, and so I turned to Karen Becker, a veterinarian and writer of The Endlessly Canine: Stunning New Science to Assist Your Canine Companion Stay Youthful, More healthy, and Longer. In a number of articles, Becker was credited as the one that broke the information of Bobi’s loss of life, in a put up on her Fb web page. I despatched Becker a message via her web site and waited for a response.
Becker, it turned out, was away lecturing, however I did get a response from her administrative assistant, Dana Adams, who was not impressed with the Guardian article casting doubt on Bobi’s longevity. “A lot is inaccurate,” Adams wrote. “Bobi by no means ate uncooked meals, he solely ate selfmade cooked meals, he’s a mutt not a purebred, and the foyer group waited till the poor little man’s cremation day to boost inquiries to Guinness about extra testing.”
Wait—what? A foyer group? It was true that the GWR article about Bobi, and plenty of the next press protection, had picked up on the element that Bobi solely ate “human meals,” an element that Bobi’s proprietor, Leonel Costa, cited as a motive for his canine’s uncommon longevity. (Costa didn’t reply to WIRED’s requests for remark.) However Adams’ reference to a foyer group gave the impression to be suggesting that there have been darkish forces behind these doubts. I pressed her for extra particulars.
“Properly, these of us within the pet area realize it by no means goes properly whenever you threaten a multi-billion greenback empire,” Adams wrote to me. “The Guardian article made it clear that is in regards to the considerations vets have if individuals do what Leonel did and feed a home-cooked food regimen … Bobi instantly threatens this whole business.” Hooked up was a screenshot of the world’s high 10 pet meals producers, as ranked by petfoodindustry.com. Topping the record have been Mars Petcare Inc., Nestlé Purina PetCare, and Hill’s Pet Vitamin.
