Colombian Military Calls Off Search for Wilson the Rescue Dog

BOGOTA, Colombia—The military here has called off a weekslong, intensive search for Wilson, a rescue dog that helped find four children in the Amazon last month and got lost himself in a drama that gripped the country.

“We exhausted all our capacities and resources in the search, with no effort spared,” Gen. Pedro Sánchez, who oversaw the search for the children and then Wilson, said on Tuesday. “We have mixed emotions—on the one hand feeling good about having found the four children and feeling sad that not everyone was able to get out.”

Around the world, people were enthralled by the June 9 rescue of four siblings who had survived 40 days in the jungle on a diet of wild fruit and nuts after the small plane they had been traveling in crashed. Colombia’s armed forces then announced that about 100 commandos, braving heavy downpours and bug bites, remained in an inhospitable swath of jungle searching for Wilson.

The 5-year-old, coffee-colored Belgian shepherd had been part of the operation to find the children until he broke away from his handler nearly two months ago and bolted into the brush. The eldest of the four siblings, Lesly Jacobombaire, 13, told the army that the dog had been with them for about three days, said Sánchez, who explained that Wilson possibly made contact with them on May 28.

After the children were rescued, Lesly and Soleiny Jacobombaire, 9, had from their hospital bed in the capital drawn pictures of the dog in the midst of trees and flowers.

Commandos who had been involved in the quest to find the children, Operation Hope, compared losing Wilson to losing a fellow commando.

“Wilson, who gave up his life in the line of duty, had kept his eye on the children,” said Sgt. Wilmar Miranda. “He could not be located and recovered, but the jungle is an inexplicable mystery and it’s possible it swallowed up this dog.”

Another commando involved in the search for the children, Sgt. Luber Espinosa, said Wilson, after so many weeks in the Amazon, perhaps fell prey to a carnivore.

“It’s possible the animals in the jungle devoured him,” he said. “There are big animals, like boas and jaguars. And the dog didn’t have any food, just the water in the jungle.”

Espinosa added: “One thing is clear, history will remember this dog.”

Sánchez said that the armed forces wanted to honor the memory of the dog by including a likeness of Wilson in a mural in one of the army’s bases. Just last month, President Gustavo Petro awarded a medal to Wilson’s mother, Drugia, in a ceremony at the presidential palace with the commandos who found the children. The tributes will continue on July 20, Independence Day in Colombia.

“In the July 20 parade there will be a float in honor of Operation Hope,” said Sánchez, “and Wilson’s mother will be there.”

Wilson knew his way in the bush, the military said, having been trained to operate in Colombia’s jungle. And he helped the military find an important proof of life during Operation Hope—a baby bottle used by the youngest of the four children.

“The dog, trained to track, was prepared in this place and that’s why he put into practice what he knows,” the military had said in a written statement last month.

— Jenny Carolina Gonzalez contributed to this article.

Corrections & Amplifications
The surname of the two eldest siblings rescued from the Amazon is Jacobombaire. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Jacobombair, in one instance. (Corrected on July 12)

Write to Juan Forero at [email protected]