フィリピンの「英雄犬」永眠　少女２人守り顔面失う

【マニラＡＦＰ＝時事】フィリピンで２０１１年、少女２人をオートバイから守ろうとして顔面の半分を失う大けがをしたとして「英雄犬」とたたえられた雌の雑種犬「カバン」が１７日、１３歳で永眠していたことが分かった。（写真は米国から帰国後、フィリピンの首都マニラで開かれた記者会見で獣医に抱かれて登場した犬のカバン）
　飼い主のアントン・マリ・リムさんが今週、フェイスブックへの投稿で明らかにした。カバンは眠りについたまま息を引き取ったという。ソーシャルメディアでは、カバンの死を悲しむ声が次々と上がった。
　カバンは２０１１年、交通量の多い道路を横断中だった少女２人を救うため、自らバイクの前に飛び出したと報じられ、インターネット上で大きな話題を呼んだ。
　カバンは事故で鼻先と顎の一部を失い、まぶたも負傷。米国での治療費を募るネットでの募金運動には２万７０００ドル（約２９０万円）余りが集まった。治療により顔の一部は再建されたが、義鼻と義顎の装着は断念された。
　カバンの死骸はコンクリート製のひつぎに入れられ、米国の支援者が資金を出してフィリピン南部サンボアンガに建てられるカバンのアルミ製像の足元に納められる予定。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/05/21-15:59）

A dog hailed as a hero in the Philippines after it lost half its face while apparently saving two girls from being hit by a motorcycle a decade ago has died, her owner said.
Anton Mari Lim announced Kabang's death on Facebook this week, sparking an outpouring of grief and tributes on social media for the 13-year-old mutt.
Kabang became an internet sensation in 2011 after local media reported how she had saved the lives of two girls crossing a busy road by deliberately leaping in front of a motorbike.
You have always been a hero, selfless to a fault, wrote the vet, who first treated Kabang and later adopted her.
I will miss you jumping over the gate to greet me everytime i get home, staying beside me when i work in the garden or acting like a supervisor when i mow the lawn. You were just there.
In the accident, Kabang's snout and part of her jaw were torn off when the motorcycle flipped over, also damaging an eyelid.
An online fundraising drive raised more than $27,000 to treat her wounds in the United States. Her face was partially rebuilt, but efforts to fit a prosthetic snout and jaw were abandoned.
Kabang died in her sleep on Monday, Lim said in the Facebook post, which has been liked and shared thousands of times.
Run free Kabang, said many of the hundreds of comments on the post.
Kabang's remains will be kept in a concrete vault at the foot of a solid aluminium statue of her in the southern city of Zamboanga that was funded by an American fan.