A 44-year-old hiker was forced to eat his own dog when he became stranded in the wilderness, just days after his beloved companion saved him from a black bear attack.
Marco Lavoie killed and ate his German Shepherd after a bear destroyed his food supplies and essential goods more than 800 kilometers outside of Montreal, Canada.
According to the Canadian news agency QMI, the dog chased the bear away, but was killed by the desperate Lavoie with a stone.
A local authority spokesman reportedly said his first words after he was found were, “I want a new dog.”
“He is very sick and can hardly speak, but when our officers spoke to him in the hospital, he just said: ‘
I want a new dog,'” said Richard Carbanneu.
“I imagine he must feel very guilty about eating his pet. It’s obvious he loved it very much and didn’t mean to do what he did.”
He joined other survivalists in praising Lavoie’s “courageous” decision to sacrifice his beloved companion in the fight for survival.
“He was alone in the wild for weeks with nothing to eat. He also badly injured his ankle so he couldn’t hunt for food. I guess he thought he had no other choice,” he said.
When Lavoie was rescued by helicopter, he had lost over 40 kg and was suffering from hypothermia.
His condition is critical and he remains in a hospital in northern Quebec.
