Life

Stray Dogs Attend Woman's Funeral To Pay Respects

by Catie Keck

It’s hard losing a parent, but it’s always nice to be surrounded by those he or she held dearest to heart; sometimes strangers, sometimes old friends. For Margarita Suarez’s family, the unexpected guests at the service were stray pets who attended the funeral of the woman who, it turns out, wasn't only a beloved member of Suarez family, but a generous person who regularly fed the stray animals in her neighborhood. The animals showed up, seemingly apropos of nothing, to pay their respects for the many years she’d cared for and fed them. The hoards of feral animals—birds, cats, and dogs alike—reportedly showed up shortly after their mother was delivered to the chapel.

Like a congregation of mourning relatives, the dogs are picture curled up around the space with their heads bowed. This is perhaps further proof that our dogs really do love us and have emotional stake in our well being and survival (our cat overlords, however, remain complete jerk-faces). A video taken by the family shows a small bird fluttering in from outside and into the chapel. Could it be that this is all just a miraculous coincidence? Certainly. But who would it hurt, honestly, for us to believe that our animal family loves us as unconditionally as our human one?

Facebook, in all of its sensitive omniscience, worded a very rough translation of a post on Patricia Urrutia’s Facebook page honoring her mother. In the translation, she says that with her mother’s body “out of nowhere [I] get a pack of dogs” who “the whole night stayed as doing guard.” The whole night they stayed guard.

Anyway, now that you’re weeping, here’s a video of a tiny bird who evidently also came to pay respects:

Images: Getty Images; Patricia Urrutia/Facebook(3)