A Belgian Malinois has become the first dog, probably ever, to be taken as a prisoner of war. A video of the dog shows Taliban fighters parading the service animal around in its black protective vest and showing off specialized rifles and GPS devices they say were attached to it.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the dog was captured after a lengthy firefight between U.S. forces and Taliban fighters in the Alin Nigar district of Afghanistan’s Laghman province in late December.
“The dog was of high significance to the Americans,” he said.
Lt. Col. Will Griffin, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan, confirmed Thursday in an e-mail that the force lost a military working dog during an operation in December. He did not provide further details.
Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, said officials could think of no prior instance in which a military working dog had been taken captive.
The Taliban are now probably trying to brainwash the little furball to turn against its country. Showtime will later create a series around it called Woofland.
Not that it matters much to this poor soldier, but it is not the first dog pow. The first was registered by the Japanese in WWII:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_(dog)
Am I the only one who finds the fact that the Taliban chose to recognize him as a POW a sign of hope for the dog’s fate (verses just shooting him)?