K9 Zoom – India – MWD

Died 10/13/22

Indian Army’s assault dog ‘Zoom’ dies after fighting militants

Army’s feisty assault canine Zoom lost its battle against the injuries on Thursday. Zoom was admitted at Armed Forces Veterinary Hospital, Srinagar on Monday after terrorists shot it twice. It was operated upon as it had a gunshot wound on the face and rear right leg. An officer in Srinagar said, “Our Army dog Zoom that was under treatment at 54 AFVH died around 12 noon. Apparently, it was improving and responding well and looked fine till around 1145 when it suddenly started gasping and soon collapsed.”Zoom was tasked with clearing the house where terrorists were hiding in. The dog went inside the house and attacked the militants. During the operation, the canine was shot twice and suffered critical injuries. The dog, however, continued his task, which resulted in the killing of two terrorists. Indian Army Condoled the passing away of its canine. The Northern Command in its tweet message said, “Army Commander Northern Command condoles the death of Assault Dog ‘Zoom’. Injured in line of duty in operation at Tangpawa #Ananatnag, he finally breathed the last on 13 October 2022. A real hero in service to the #Nation.”Zoom, a Malinois or Belgian Shepherd was born in September 2020 and joined the Army’s 28 Army Dog Unit (ADU) and had service of eight months with him. The Army has 32 units out of which there are 19 dog units serving in the Northern Command. Each canine unit has 24 dogs of different specialties.The Tangpawa, Anantnag operation was based on intelligence, launched by the joint team of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF and Army on Sunday. The surveillance had helped the forces to reach the target house, but the number of terrorists was not known. But, with the readjustment of the cordon and intermittent exchange of fire throughout the night, the forces confirmed the presence of two terrorists in the house.The Army on Monday said, “During the period, it was spotted by own technical assets that one of the terrorists was injured. At that time, the brave Zoom was sent into the target house to retrieve the weapons from terrorists and pull them out of hiding,” said an Army source.Zoom approached the target stealthily and pounced upon the terrorist. “It was fired upon by the terrorists in hiding, injuring him seriously. However, he was successful in destabilizing the terrorists, who were then effectively neutralized by the precision fire of the troops.”Assault dogs are trained to attack terrorists with rifles hiding in a room or running away after an incident. The assault dogs along with all other such canine soldiers deployed in different roles are proving to be an asset as has been found in the recent operations in Kashmir.

Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.