Sylvester Stallone is mourning the loss of his beloved pup Phoebe was found dead of an apparent coyote attack earlier this month. The Expendables 2 actor and his family were on a community-wide hunt for the dog after she went missing a few weeks back, TMZ reports, but the search ended in tragedy when someone discovered Phoebe’s lifeless body on Stallone’s property.
According to the site, the 66-year-old action star had posted missing flyers all throughout his Bel Air neighborhood as soon as Phoebe went missing, even offering a $10,000 reward for her safe return.
A rep for Stallone tells TMZ that the dog’s death has been extremely hard on the family. Stallone has previously spoken out about his love for pets in the past. In February, the action star told ShortList magazine that he went through a similarly heartbreaking situation when he was just starting out in the industry.
“I sold my bullmastiff Butkus to a little person,” he told the magazine. “I tied my dog up at the store with a sign that said a hundred bucks. I got $50 from this guy called Little Jimmy.”
“When I sold the Rocky script, I went to see Little Jimmy and begged for the dog back,” he continued. “He wanted to fight me and said he was gonna kill me — he was a crazy little person. I couldn’t fight him — they’d arrest me — so I offered to pay double. … Anyway, $3,000 and several threats later … I ended up putting [Little Jimmy] in the movie [Rocky].”