Late French film star Alain Delon wanted his dog buried with him. The dog gets to live

PARIS (AP) — Before he died this week, French film icon Alain Delon once suggested he wanted his beloved sheepdog Loubo buried with him. To the relief of animal lovers around France, Loubo will be allowed to survive.

Delon, an internationally acclaimed and prolific actor and producer, died Sunday, aged 88, and will be buried on Saturday at his family home in Douchy, south of Paris.

He was quoted in a 2018 interview with Paris Match as saying he wanted Loubo, a Belgian Malinois he adopted in 2014, buried with him. “I've had 50 dogs in my life, but I have a particular relationship with this one,'' he told the magazine. ”If I die before him, I'll ask the veterinarian for us to leave together. ... I'd prefer that to knowing that he would let himself die on my tomb amid so much suffering.''

After Delon's death, animal rights activists and concerned citizens raised the alarm about Loubo’s fate.

An official with the Brigitte Bardot Foundation — a prominent animal rights group founded by the famed French film star, who was close with Delon — said he contacted Delon’s family after foundation members expressed concern.

"They said the question was not even raised, and they would let the dog live. They said he has a home in Douchy, and will live there,’’ the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be publicly named according the Foundation’s communications policies.

The official said Delon was a longtime "friend of the foundation’’ and helped raise money for its causes.

Delon’s family didn’t publicly comment about the dog.

France’s Society for the Protection of Animals welcomed the family's decision.

‘’Our phone lines were saturated'' with calls by people worried about the dog, SPA President Guillaume Sanchez told The Associated Press.

Loubo “will probably be very sad to have lost the affection of Mr. Delon,'' Sanchez said. But ”we are totally against the idea that anyone euthanizes an animal for this reason, Delon or no Delon. ... Organizations that work to protect animals want society to develop awareness that an animal is an individual, separate being.''

One of France’s most memorable leading men and best-known film stars, Delon was also a producer and appeared in plays, and in later years, in television movies.

People write in a book of condolence as they pay tribute to late French actor Alain Delon, at the entrance gate of Delon's property, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Photographs and flowers left by fans in tribute to late French actor Alain Delon are on display at the entrance gate of Delon's property, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French actor Alain Delon's son Anthony Delon greets his father's fans as he arrives to attend a funeral ceremony of his father, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French actor Alain Delon's son Anthony Delon stands in front of the flowers and messages display at the entrance of of his father property, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French actor Alain Delon's son Anthony Delon arrives to attend a funeral ceremony of his father, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. Alain Delon, the internationally acclaimed French actor who embodied both the bad guy and the policeman and made hearts throb around the world, has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People sing a song as they pay tribute to late French actor Alain Delon, at the entrance gate of Delon's property, in Douchy, central France, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

FILE - French actor Alain Delon takes a short walk away from the set of a new film, "The Sicilians," during a break in the shooting in the center of Rome, on March 27, 1969. Alain Delon, the internationally acclaimed French actor who embodied both the bad guy and the policeman and made hearts throb around the world, has died at age 88, French media reported. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle, File)

FILE - French actor Alain Delon and model Bianca di Sofia arrive for the screening of the film "Chacun Son Cinema" ("To Each His Own Cinema"), at the 60th International film festival in Cannes, southern France, on Sunday, May 20, 2007. Alain Delon, the internationally acclaimed French actor who embodied both the bad guy and the policeman and made hearts throb around the world, has died at age 88, French media reported. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

BOSTON (AP) — A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.

Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.

“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.

The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I'm bored.” The awards ceremony was also was broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy's Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people's heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone's hair in the Southern Hemisphere.

Other winners include a group of scientists who showed that fake medicine that causes side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that doesn't cause side effects and one showing that some mammals are cable of breathing through their anus — winners who came on stage wearing a fish-inspired hats.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”

Professor James Liao displays a stuffed fish while accepting a prize for physics for demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A team of researchers perform a demonstration during a performance showing that many mammals are capable of breathing through their anus while accepting the 2024 Ig Nobel prize in physiology at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

People in the audience throw paper airplanes toward the stage during a performance at the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FILE - Students walk past the "Great Dome" atop Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Mass, April 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)