Wilson, the rescue dog and last drama in the history of the children lost in the jungle

When it became known that the four children lost in the Guaviare jungle had appeared, on the afternoon of June 9, a story derived from that Story of a castaway in which Gabriel García Márquez recounted the survival at sea for 10 days of a sailor seemed to be edited at the same time. But the case of the minors, aged one, four, eight and 13, has more elements of miracle. Not only were they lost for 40 days in a rugged environment, where the thickness of the foliage prevents them from seeing 20 meters away, but before they had survived the plane crash that put them in that place and in which their mother died. The story that children can make of such an experience can be known in part thanks to Wilson, a six-year-old Belgian shepherd dog who contributed to the search and who today is still lost somewhere in the jungle.

The search is not complete. Our premise: No one is left behind. Soldiers continue the operation to find Wilson#PatriaHonorLealtad pic.twitter.com/a4mPVvCoPT

— Colombian National Army (@COL_EJERCITO) June 10, 2023

The animal was taken to help in a mission that kept the country in suspense since the remains of the crashed plane and the bodies of the adults who were in it were found. The dog was born and raised among the military. On June 8, a day before the children were found, the Army reported that Wilson had been lost in the jungle. One of the hypotheses that explained its disappearance was that, due to the difficulties of the terrain, the humidity and the unfavorable climatic conditions of the area, it had become disoriented. But it was close, judging by the footprints that were sighted on the ground, and not only of the Army, but also of the children, of whom features had been found a short distance away.

More than 100 members of the Special Forces of the Military Forces, apart from members of the Civil Defense, military dogs and more than 70 indigenous people knowledgeable about the jungle were still in the search, which ended with joy on Friday afternoon. It was announced that, along with the children, the animal had been located. However, this was not the case. That was another dramatic twist in a story that was accompanied by inaccurate information and false alarms.

At the same time, social media, which served as a thermometer for euphoria, gracefully elevated Wilson to the dignity of a hero: "Put Wilson on the $200,000 bill," one user wrote. Others painted cartoons that moved at full speed on the Internet.

Let's find Wilson 💔🐾
🧵 pic.twitter.com/5hMDgTu3QK

— Potato Cartoons (@PATATAdibujo) June 10, 2023

The dog, judging by the account of Lesly, the eldest of the children found, had found them. The director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF), Astrid Cáceres, gave details about what the children said, this Saturday at noon: "Lesly smiled at us, gave us hugs, told us about the puppy." The same one that was lost and in which all the attention of the soldiers who remain in the jungle of Guaviare is now focused. General Helder Giraldo, commander of the Military Forces, gave the order to follow in the dog's footsteps: "You never abandon a comrade fallen on the battlefield. Operation Hope advances in the search for our canine Wilson, who, doing tracking and in his eagerness to find the children, moves away from the troops and gets lost. "

The Army has insisted that Operation Hope, as the jungle search was dubbed, will not end until Wilson shows up. General Pedro Sánchez, who commanded the operation, said Saturday that since the dog was lost, on May 18, the military made contact with him twice, but both times he was lost again. According to the general, when the children encountered the animal, it was emaciated, a product of the natural difficulties of finding food in that area. The new objective of the mission is to get Wilson out of the jungle so that the bliss, which is already enormous, can be complete.

#Wilson And Wilson? Let it appear soon! pic.twitter.com/B29tFfkJmb

- Can I explain it to you with plasticine? (@altereddie) June 10, 2023

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