Freddie had already been saved three times. To mark his fate, finally, it was an episode that could have been avoided with a simple gesture: to keep a dog on the leash.
Freddie was a very well-known young seal on the Thames in London. In March 2021, as he was on the shore near Hammersmith Bridge, he was attacked by a leashless dog.
The wounds were so severe that the veterinarians established that they could not recover and decided to subject it to euthanasia to avoid further suffering.
The owner of the dog, a 49-year-old lawyer, later presented his public apologies and said that, with the hind, he would have kept the animal on a leash.
The police examined the case, but no criminal actions were taken.
And it is precisely this contrast to having made the story so painful for those who had followed Freddie's story: before the attack had already been saved three times in different circumstances.
He had been recovered from puppy in the Netherlands, subsequently treated in France for an infection and then rescued on the Thames after a fish hook had been stuck in his mouth.
After being able to overcome all this, Freddie failed to survive the consequences of the attack.
Such a tragedy inevitably provokes anger, but also brings with it a wider question.
The leash does not only serve to control an aggressive animal.
Even a normally quiet dog can react unpredictablely in front of another animal, a person, a sudden noise or an unknown situation.
This is why respecting the rules and indications provided in public spaces means taking responsibility towards those around us.
Apologies can recognize a mistake.
They can't erase the consequences.
Freddie had already been saved three times.
The fourth emergency, the one caused by the dog's attack, was the last.