The British woman said she had run out of food for the stray dogs days earlier.
By World Israel News Staff
A British woman who cared for hundreds of stray dogs at a shelter she ran in Egypt was found partially eaten by the the very animals in her care only days after saying she had run out of food for them, media reported this week.
The Times of London described Janet Johnstone, 61, as an animal lover and reported that she was found last Friday in her shelter in Wadi al-Qamar, Egypt with bite wounds to her head, face, neck and legs.
Authorities say they believe that the dogs turned on their caretaker when they became hungry, the Times reports, citing local media.
A forensic examination gave as cause of death shock due to loss of blood, the paper said. Several of the dogs are being tested for genetic material to confirm that they were responsible for Johnstone’s death, the paper says.
A friend of Johnstone’s said that a pit bull she had taken in to save it from being put down after it attacked someone might have been responsible.
Last month, Johnstone said in a Facebook post that she was having trouble raising money. “So the dogs couldn’t be fed today,” she wrote at the time.
Friends of Johnstone who ran a Facebook page to raise money for the shelter had trouble digesting the likelihood that the dogs ate their caretaker.
“We absolutely refute any suggestion that she died because of a dog attack,” the administrators of the page said.
“We do not know exactly and to the best of our knowledge no one else does either, most likely the truth will never come out,” they wrote.
“Janet will forever be in our hearts, she helped so many,” they wrote. They sent “heartfelt condolences firstly to all her fur babies.”
A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office told the Sun, “We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Egypt and are in contact with the Egyptian authorities.
“Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.”