They are looking for a dog that was key in finding the children in the jungle of Colombia. The children say they saw him and were with him

BOGOTA —

Wilson, a Belgian shepherd who was instrumental in finding the four children lost for 40 days in the Colombian jungle, is awaited at the military school in Bogota where he was trained to receive him with honors.

The problem is that Wilson has been missing for almost a month. On May 18, he accidentally let go of his caretaker’s rope on the complex terrain where there is visibility of just 20 meters. The children were found on June 9.

A group of 70 highly trained soldiers is engaged in the mission to find it in the Colombian Amazon.

“We are there with our commandos looking for Wilson. We never leave a commando behind,” he told the voice of america Colombian General Pedro Sanchez, who led the rescue operation of the four minors.

Wilson was instrumental in finding clues to the missing children, such as Cristin’s bottle, the youngest of the four siblings, who appeared about four kilometers from the plane crash site.

At the Military Hospital in Bogota where the four brothers recoverLesly and Soleyni, the two older sisters, drew the jungle where they got lost and in the drawing you can see a dog.

“There are versions of the children who say that they did see the dog, that they were with it, but the children are recovering from shock and we have to wait,” said General Sanchez.

The general told the VOA that they continue to do everything possible to bring their last “soldier”, Wilson, back alive, of whom they have found “clues” that would indicate that he “is still alive.”

Soldiers have encountered Wilson twice, but every time he sees the group, he runs away, Sanches explained.

“It’s a dog that’s trained to find a target,” he said.

The soldier Cristian David Lara Cuaran, who trained Wilson, did not leave the jungle after rescuing the children and remains in the wild region where jaguars and poisonous snakes live and where there are dissident factions of the FARC.

These dogs are trained at the Military School of Engineers of the Colombian Army, south of Bogota, where they arrive as puppies to be trained in different specialties such as demining, detecting drugs and searching and rescuing people.

The training of these dogs is carried out in pairs with the aim of developing a powerful bond between the animal and the military that will always accompany them in operations.

“The Belgian Malinois is a very strong breed, very resilient and very hyperactive. This breed is very special, since it can be used in different fields such as search and rescue, tracking and intervention, and also especially in the area of ​​explosives,” he said. VOA Private Porras, who was part of Wilson’s training process.

According to Porras, the “military commitment” and the “innocence” of the dog, which is always playing and lurking with its senses “looking for the target”, helped save the lives of the four children.