SHOCKER: Dog Buries A Dead Cat In An Alleged Act Of Mourning. (Photos & Video)

In what appears to be a touching display of animal kindness, a stray dog carefully buries the lifeless body of a dead puppy. But an animal behavior expert has given a somewhat less sentimental account of the apparently selfless act - which has been captured on film and become a viral hit on YouTube.

Peter Borchelt, a New York animal-behavior consultant, has said it was more likely that the dog was 'burying dead meat.' He told the Daily Intelligencer: 'I think that this is a classic case of really interesting behavior — sort of unusual that somebody actually caught it on video — and we make a big deal out of it, and it’s really cute and it sort of reminds us of some of the things we do.

'I suspect it was more likely just caching dead meat, rather than a soulful response to the demise of a puppy that it wanted to bury.' Onlookers had watched in awe as the mongrel circled and sniffed the lifeless puppy after finding it in a ditch where it had been left to rot in the midday sun.
More pix and video after the cut:

But Mr Borchelt said it would be just as ridiculous to assume a dog was 'praying' if it had been sat with his paws folded, to think the dog was performing a touching burial for the young puppy. He said humans and animals have 'two entirely different behavior systems.

He did say the dog may not have returned to eat the puppy, it was part of an innate instinct to bury the body - the same instinct which sees dogs bury bones