By IANS,
Beijing : Over 10,000 dogs are presently serving the Chinese armed forces in missions like peacekeeping, post-disaster search and rescue and border patrolling, a Chinese army official has revealed.
These dogs are currently serving in more than 5,000 army divisions, said Wang Han, an official with the Beijing-based war dog breeding and training centre, during a seminar, Xinhua reported Friday.
These military dogs come from 10 breeds that include China’s Kunming dog, German and Belgian shepherd, and Labrador retrievers.
China trains hundreds of war dogs each year for patrol, scout, sentry as well as drug and explosives detection work, said Wang.
Founded in 1950, China’s military working dogs (MWD) project was halted in the 1960s during the cultural revolution and resumed in 1991.
“In the past five years, our military working dogs have helped solve hundreds of cases. They have been playing a key role in the army that could not be replaced by modern technology or human efforts,” said Wang.