Indian Army mulling over making service animals' memorial in Meerut

The Indian Army's training command is mulling over a proposal to build a war memorial for its animals, including dogs, horses, and mules. The memorial has been proposed to be built at the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) Centre and College in Meerut where the Army keeps and breeds dogs, mules, and horses.

"The proposal had been initiated almost two years ago for setting up the war memorial in Meerut for the animals and is now in the training command," Army sources said.

The proposal will have to go through the chain of command for clearance before it becomes a reality. A large number of dogs, mules, and horses have given their lives in the line of duty as they help extensively in counter-terrorist operations and during conventional wars.

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Dogs trained with AV devices

Earlier in December, the Indian Army started training its dogs to help them in operations by mounting Audio-Video (AV) devices on them. The device has been developed by the commanding officer of the 26 Army Dog Unit, Lieutenant Colonel V Kamalraj, a veterinary surgeon.

Explaining the working of the device, Kamalraj said "We developed this device after intense research and tried it in Jammu and Kashmir. It can give us real-time details and work as our eyes and ears during any operation, especially with terrorists. Let us say that our soldiers find some terrorists hiding in a building and we need to know the details of that particular building, the position of the terrorists, and the entry and exits. The Army can send in a dog with this device. It can give us the details from a distance of one kilometre and send the output through a system," he said.

When asked about the types of dogs who have been trained and their safety, Kamalraj said, "The dogs are of different kinds. There are assault dogs as well, and in case of any face-off with the enemy, the bulletproof jacket will save them from any deadly firing. They can also attack the enemy as they are trained to do so."

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(with inputs from ANI)

(image credits: ANI)