Therapy dogs help wounded soldiers at Colombian hospital

Polo and Rafa, two playful black Labradors, are therapists at a military hospital in Colombia. At just one year and six months old, the dogs are crucial in the recovery of soldiers wounded in combat, amid an upsurge in armed conflict in the country.

Targeted by a drone strike over the weekend, soldier Jeferson Mosquera can barely move on his stretcher. But the animals' visit makes him smile and distracts him for a moment from the pain he feels.

The 21-year-old soldier was wounded by drone fire from the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group in the Norte de Santander department, near Venezuela. Three of his comrades were killed and eight others were injured.

Wearing a vest labeled "emotional support," Rafa stands up and places his paws on the stretcher. He wags his tail for Mosquera to feed him.

"It's wonderful to see this dog that comes to support us emotionally here," the soldier told AFP at Bogotá's Military Hospital.

The number of people admitted to the medical unit decreased after the 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, but the conflict intensified with the emergence of other illegal groups that took control of their areas of influence.

For Luis Alberto Salinas, coordinator of the hospital's psychology and neuropsychology group, the dogs' visits to the wounded represent a "reduction" in stress and anxiety, typical after-effects of war, and he states that it has been proven that this regulates the patients' heart rate and breathing.

"Since they've been hospitalized here for a while, we can change their emotional state through animals," says soldier Jhon Alexander Beltrán, 32, who trains the dogs.

Colombia is experiencing its worst wave of violence since the disarmament of the FARC, despite attempts by Gustavo Petro's government to reach a peace agreement with the armed groups.

The conflict, in which guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug trafficking groups participated, left more than 10 million victims in six decades.

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