Owner of ‘oldest dog ever’ Bobi vows to get title back after it was stripped
Leonel Costa is determined to set the record straight.
The record in question is a very specific one: ‘oldest dog in history’, as certified by Guinness World Records. For eight months last year, the title was held by Leonel’s dog Bobi, a honey-coloured Portuguese mastiff who was ostensibly born in 1992.
But following Bobi’s sad death in October, there were rumblings of scepticism in the media – rumblings that grew louder over time. Many veterinary professionals simply didn’t believe that such a dog could possibly live as long as he did.
The questions culminated in the announcement earlier this month that, following an investigation, the dog would be stripped of his record.
Full disclosure: I’ve met Leonel Costa. I’ve also met Bobi. I travelled to Portugal last May for what I then understood to be the 31st birthday party of the oldest dog who ever lived. I was the only foreign journalist at the farm in Conquieros that day, and I enjoyed a fantastic sandwich of spit-roasted pork.
So, you could argue I’ve got a personal stake in this story. It’s strange enough that I travelled 900 miles for a dog’s 31st birthday, but if the dog in question turned out to be a fraud, that would add an unwelcome extra layer of strangeness on top.
All I’ll say is I’ve got a personal stake in finding out the truth. And there’s a chance the story isn’t over yet.
‘I lost the most important thing in my life which was BOBI but I won’t lose my character that I promise you,’ wrote Leonel in our first email exchange since the news that his dog would lose the title. ‘The Guinness will have to change the situation!’
In the explosive review by Guinness World Records (GWR), it transpired that the decision to award Bobi the record was almost entirely based on data from his microchip – but the dog was only chipped in 2022, and the Portuguese government database did not require proof of age for animals born before 2008.
‘With the additional veterinary statement provided as evidence for Bobi’s age also citing this microchip data,’ announced director of records Mark McKinley, ‘we’re left with no conclusive evidence which can definitively prove Bobi’s date of birth.
‘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.’
For Leonel, however, this justification is ‘simply miserable’.
‘I want to inform you that each country has its own rules and in Portugal it was not mandatory to have a chip in 1992, this only became mandatory in 2018, so it is not a reason for any assessment on the part of Guinness,’ he wrote.
‘Furthermore, this is not part of the Guinness criteria for analyzing the process, so much so that everything was correct in 2022 when we started the process, Guinness confirmed and granted the title and maintained it for more than a year!
‘Where is the coherence and credibility of this institution????’
In Leonel’s telling, he only chipped the free-roaming Bobi when it was absolutely necessary, and he was honest with the authorities about his dog’s birthday when it was finally done. He didn’t think the entire record rested on that evidence.
What does he intend to do about it now? Leonel tells me ‘other evidence exists’ which will be presented to GWR in the coming days. He would not provide more details ‘out of respect for Guinness’, saying he wanted to give the organisation space to ‘draw its conclusions and report the truth’.
However, he hinted: ‘Any examination carried out in the laboratory is more credible than any information given by animal owners and BOBI was the animal that send the most envious evidence to date.’
When discussing the people whose doubts led to his dog’s record being taken away, Leonel gets conspiratorial. Despite the ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ nature of the raised concerns – and the fact that the review did ultimately conclude that the evidence wasn’t sufficient – he’s convinced something more sinister is going on.
It all hinges on the idea that Bobi was able to grow up on his Portuguese farm with very little intervention from vets – he had only the most essential vaccinations and ate the same food as his human owners.
‘This situation only happened because Guinness was pressured by some people in the veterinary world and processed food companies,’ said Leonel.
‘These people are trying everything to prevent BOBI’s life from being known in the world, so they are trying to discredit his life so that animal owners don’t follow BOBI’s example.
‘BOBI represents everything contrary to what the veterinary world advises, namely that few vaccines and lifelong consumption natural food.’
As for Guinness World Records, the organisation is keeping an open mind and does not want to rule out a dramatic comeback.
A spokesperson said: ‘In terms of new evidence for Bobi, we haven’t got anything specific we’re asking for but we’d assess anything credible, and refer to vet community and/or other experts if something was forthcoming.’
Leonel added: ‘I am confident and certain that Guinness is the competent institution we all think it is and obviously in the face of the evidence they will report the truth, otherwise it will be a global disgrace.’
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