Dog stoned to death
January 13 2003

A dog called Big Joe that had been trained by a young man to carry love letters to his sweetheart was stoned to death by the girl's brother in an apparent bid to protect her honour in conservative Jordan, a report said today.

The official Petra news agency said the dog was killed as it carried a letter from the unnamed suitor to his girlfriend asking her to marry him.

Big Joe had been trained by a family in the north-eastern town of Zarqa to carry in a pouch on its back a grocery list to the nearby fruit and vegetable store.

The trips inspired their son - who had been turned down by the girl's family three years ago because he was still a student and had no position - to train it to carry love letters to his sweetheart.

Big Joe would trot over to the girl's house, stand outside the building and bark until she came out to take the letters and read them before sending replies in the same manner.

Her brother, who had been spying on her, intercepted the letter, read it and in a fury stoned the dog to death before running to warn her sister's boyfriend he would meet the same fate, the agency said.

But family members and friends intervened and convinced the girl's father that her suitor was a serious young man who had no ill intentions, and secured his approval for the couple to be wed, the agency said.