At the Central Military Hospital in Bogota, an unusual unit patrols the hallways with a mission unlike any other battalion: lifting the spirits of soldiers wounded in combat.
Kratos, Rafa and Lupa make up the so-called “furry force,” a group of emotional support dogs that visit service members recovering after being injured in clashes with Colombia’s illegal armed groups.
One by one, the three dogs enter the room of Second Sergeant Jeisson Sanchez Duque, who was shot during fighting in the northwest province of Antioquia. Kratos, the most senior of the dogs, greeted him with a paw after receiving treats. Then, Lupa settled on the floor and Sanchez brushed her as he remained seated due to his back injury.
Photo: AP
“It’s something different... you forget the pain and focus on the dogs,” Sanchez said.
Soldiers are still battling the scars from a decades-long conflict in Colombia that led to 450,000 people killed and forced 7 million to flee their homes. Despite a 2016 peace agreement between the government and the country’s largest guerrilla group the FARC, various armed groups still operate in Colombia. These groups, including some who broke from the FARC, dispute territories vacated by the FARC and the valuable illicit economies that run through them, including drug trafficking.
Launched in April last year after a visit from an animal care organization, the program aims to provide psychological support and ease recovery for soldiers facing physical and emotional scars, including amputations from landmines and injuries from drones dropping explosives.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, incidents involving explosive devices in Colombia rose by 94 percent between January and July compared with the same period last year.
The hospital also said there has been an increase in patients who have been injured by explosives launched by drones.
Kratos was donated by the air force, then Rafa by the army and then two more dogs were donated by the hospital’s doctors.
The program has since expanded to let patients bring their own dogs and provide wellness breaks for staff.
“[The dogs] show a benefit in patient recovery, supported by physiological changes that occur during interactions, which we might view as recreational, but in this case, they are therapeutic for patients,” hospital deputy medical director Eliana Patricia Ramirez said.
For soldier Luis Miguel Lopez, who lost part of his leg to a mine in Antioquia Province’s Puerto Valdivia, the dogs’ visits helped break through the depression he felt while in the hospital.
The experience also reminded him of Goma, an anti-explosives dog who saved his unit several times before being killed by a blast.
“I was so depressed in my room, because I was holed up in there. My wife gave me support, but it wasn’t the same,” he said.
“When those dogs come in, they change you because they bring happiness.”
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