Oddball, the dog that not only put Victorian fairy penguins and a seaside city in the global consciousness, has died.
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Oddball, the Maremma dog and inspiration behind the movie of the same name, died last week at the respectable age of 15.
His pioneering role as a guardian of the fairy penguins on Warrnambool’s Middle Island was portrayed in the movie Oddball that has been screened internationally.
Oddball’s owner Allan “Swampy” Marsh said the dog, who was female and not male as portrayed in the move, died on his Dennington farm where she had lived for the past three years.
He said she had a heart condition for the past three to four years that had slowed her down.
Oddball’s pioneering role in protecting the Middle Island penguins was a “cameo” role.
She only stayed on the island for three weeks before she got too lonely and swam back to shore to return home.
However her short stint was enough to prove to the doubters that Mr Marsh’s unorthodox idea that Maremma dogs would protect penguins was worth pursuing.
But while she was easy-going with people, Mr Marsh said Oddball was a hard worker at night, scaring off foxes and other predators that had almost wiped out Middle Island’s penguin population.
After her crusading role, Oddball went to Mr Marsh’s poultry farm at Purnim where she guarded chickens for much of her life before returning to Dennington for her final years.
Mr Marsh said the Oddball movie had spread the dog’s name around the world and he had approached Warrnambool City Council with a proposal to change Middle Island’s name to Oddball Island to honour the dog’s role.
Tributes flow
Actor Shane Jacobson, who starred in the movie Oddball, has also expressed his sadness at hearing the news.
“The film Oddball was a great Australian story, but the applause truly belongs to that wonderful dog Oddball,” Mr Jacobson said.
“The animal kingdom has lost one of its gentle bodyguards. RIP Oddball.”
Mr Jacobson went on to purchase hsi own Maremma after filming Oddball.
Warrnambool’s former tourism services manager Peter Abbott has described how the story of Oddball tugged at heartstrings across the world.
He said there were a number of Qantas passengers on international flights to Australia who changed their travel plans to visit Warrnambool and the home of the pioneering Maremma.
“When I was there we had people changing their travel patterns because they had seen the movie on their flight,” Mr Abbott said.
Richard Keddie, the producer of Oddball, has expressed his sadness at the passing of the inspirational dog.
“It’s incredibly sad,” Mr Keddie said. “She and Swampy are heroes. Oddball is such an inspiration for what’s possible.
“Oddball sort of changed the world a little bit.”
Mr Keddie said he supported the idea of a statue to be erected in Oddball’s honour.
He first heard of the story of Oddball when a mate read about the dog protecting penguins in Warrnambool on the back of a tram ticket.
“A friend of mine – Steve Kearney – had his kids on holiday about nine or 10 years ago. Tram tickets at the time had a little story on the back and on his was the story of Oddball,” Mr Keddie said.
He said the story was a case of when the truth is stranger than fiction.
“When I first went to the island it felt sort of too crazy to imagine,” Mr Keddie said. “The fact that Swampy did that is kind of ridiculous.
“You couldn’t possibly make this story up and you couldn’t make Swampy up.”
