Rescue dog that helped find four lost children in Colombian Amazon goes missing

Rescue dog Wilson, who helped find four lost Indigenous children in the Colombian Amazon, has gone missing, according to a report by the news agency AFP early Wednesday (June 14). Dozens of soldiers are scouring the jungle for Wilson,a Belgian Shepherd aged six,who disappeared on duty two weeks ago, with the military vowing not to abandon him who may have found the children.

On social media, Colombian citizens are seeking the return of the canine with hashtags #Let'sGoForWilson, #OneIsMissing and #WilsonNationalHero doing the rounds. The citizens have also pasted posters of "Missing Wilson" on the windows of their houses.

Over 70 soldiers remain deployed to find Wilson

In a statement, the Colombian army said more than 70 soldiers remained deployed in the dense jungle to find Wilson. General Pedro Sanchez, who headed the search for the children, said, "We're going for Wilson, we’re going to bring him back." The soldiers deployed in the search operation include Cristian David Lara, Wilson's handler since he was a puppy in training.

Last Friday (June 9), Lesly, Soleiny, Tien Noriel and Cristin - aged 13, nine, five and one -were rescued after wandering the Colombian Amazon for 40 days.

Wilson was the one to find one-year-old Cristin's discarded baby bottle in the thick vegetation some four kilometres from the wreckage several days after the May 1 small aircraft crash that claimed the lives of all three adults on board, including the siblings' mother.

As weeks passed, a team of nearly 200 soldiers and Indigenous jungle experts accompanied by several dogs kept finding signs that the children were alive. Two weeks back, Wilson must have become "disoriented" and disappeared because of the complexity of the terrain, humidity and adverse weather conditions, the military said in a separate statement.

According to AFP, evidenceemerged that Wilson might have been the first to find the children as a dog's footprints were spotted near those of the children before the rescue team arrived.

Rescued children talk about a 'dog' they lost

Astrid Caceres, the director of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute overseeing the rescued children's convalescence, said they kept talking about a dog they lost. Lesly and Soleiny made a drawing of a dog next to a river and amidst trees.

Caceres said that Lesley told the institute of a dog they lost, "that they didn't know where it went, that it had accompanied them for a while."

Wilson not equipped with GPS. Here's why

While GPS would have been proven useful to know Wilson's exact location, AFP reported that Wilson risked encountering members of armed groups in the Amazon who are fighting over drugs and other illegal commerce. General Pedro Sanchez said Wilson was not equipped with a GPS tracker to prevent "the enemy" from locating him and his human comrades.

(With inputs from agencies)

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