A dog has been outside a hospital in Sao Paulo, following its owner’s death for more than four months.
The dog was owned by a homeless man, who was stabbed in a local park and rushed to Santa Casa de Novo Horizonte medical centre where he died from his injuries, according to local media outlets.
The dog seeing the ambulance departing for the hospital with his owner inside chased the ambulance and not knowing that his owner died has waited outside the medical centre ever since.
A Hospital staff who provided food and water for the loyal companion said the dog, whose name is unknown, has never tried to enter the building.
It sat quietly outside waiting for the master.
Cristine Sardella a local resident uploaded two pictures of the dog on her Facebook page on February 27, providing the story of his then-four-month wait, with her post going viral.
“We have lots to learn from the animals,” her post read. “He waits for him in vain, but the love he has for his owner is eternal.”
She first noticed the dog when visiting for an appointment.
“He would get up to let people pass by, very politely, and then lay right back down again,” Ms. Sardella, a lawyer, said.
Ms. Sardella said she arranged for the dog to be picked up by a rescue organisation. But it escaped within days and made his way back across the city, walking over three kilometres to get back to the hospital.
The hospital’s director, Osvaldo Sobrinho, said they were arranging for the dog to be seen by a veterinarian and vaccinated, and a staff member was waiting to adopt him if and when it decides to leave its vigil.
It is not the first story of a dog showing unwavering loyalty to its owner.
A Japanese pooch named Hachiko famously waited almost 10 years at a train station for its owner who died after leaving it on the platform in the 1920s.