The family of the late Alain Delon has defied the French actor’s dying wish for his pet dog to be euthanised and buried alongside him.

The 88-year-old star, who died on Sunday, asked that upon his death, his 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, called Loubo, be humanely killed and laid alongside him in his village cemetery in Douchy.

However, the request was met with dismay from animal rights activists across France, who condemned the request and offered to find the dog a new home instead.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation has now announced that Delon’s daughter Anouchka said the dog would stay with the family.

“Loubo will, of course, not be euthanised,” the French animal charity said on X, formerly Twitter. “‘He has his home and his family’, confirming the actor’s relatives who will take care of him,” it added.

Delon was one of France’s most celebrated actors, often described as “the French Sinatra” for his ravishing good looks.

The star of Le Samouraï treasured the remains of at least 35 of his deceased dogs on the grounds of his sprawling home in La Brûlerie, 136 kilometres south-east of Paris, where he had resided since the early 1970s. In a 2018 interview, he told French magazine Paris Match that Loubo was his “end of life dog”.

“I’ve had 50 dogs in my life, but I have a special relationship with this one… he misses me when I’m not there,” he said.