Dog guards dead companion for 15 days on Spanish road

A female dog continuously guarded the dead body of another dog for 15 days after the latter was hit by a vehicle alongside a highway in central Spain. After receiving calls from motorists who saw the animal for several days alongside the highway linking El Espinar with Avila, authorities managed to put the female dog to sleep with tranquilizer darts and capture her with the aim of getting her adopted, the El Refugio animal welfare organization said on Sunday.

Dulcinea, a white and grey mixed breed about one year old, was risking her life amid the trucks and automobiles to protect her dead companion, who was lying in the ditch beside the road, El Refugio president Nacho Paunero said. That is the testimony given by several motorists who saw Dulcinea apparently defending the other dog’s body, Paunero said.


Photo from here.

Every now and then, when she left the side of the dead dog, because she was frightened by people who approached, she always returned to the spot shortly thereafter, motorists said. After numerous telephone calls from people who were afraid that Dulcinea would also get run over, several volunteers from El Refugio went to the spot to try and capture her using tranquilizer darts they fired from a blowpipe.

The first day they tried, it was impossible to put her to sleep because Dulcinea managed to dodge the two darts fired by one of the volunteers and they could not get close to her, Paunero said. The next day, however, the volunteers returned to the spot along with other people to try and capture her, and this time they were successful in firing the darts. Dulcinea “was very lucky. She’s in perfect shape and now what we want is to find a family that will adopt her,” Paunero said.