Diesel was a seven-year-old

Belgian Malinois The Belgian Shepherd (also known as the Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Malinois, or the Chien de Berger Belge) is a Dog breed, breed of medium-sized herding dog from Belgium. While predominantly considered a single breed, it is bred in four disti ...

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

assault dog employed by the

French police Law enforcement in France has a long history dating back to AD 570 when night watch systems were commonplace.Dammer, H. R. and Albanese, J. S. (2014). ''Comparative Criminal Justice Systems'' (5th ed.). Wadesworth Cengage learning: Belmont, ...

Working career

Diesel had worked for the RAID unit for five of her seven years, and was the first RAID dog killed on duty. She was due to retire in spring 2016. On 18 November 2015, Diesel was killed in a shootout with suspected terrorists in the Saint-Denis area of Paris, while searching for suspects involved in the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...

. During the raid, which was in response to the Paris attacks, the dog had been sent in to clear rooms following a cessation of gunfire from the suspects. The first room was empty, but after she entered a second room, the gunfire started once more. She died of multiple gunshot wounds. Following the raid, some media reports claimed that Diesel had been killed by a female

suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

. This was later shown to have been incorrect as there was no female bomber. Diesel "was saluted for her bravery by the Paris police chiefs who told ''Le Parisien'' ..that dog almost certainly saved her handler’s life during the raid."

Legacy

Tributes to Diesel on social media were extensive, under the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

s #JeSuisDiesel or #JeSuisChien. Shortly after Diesel's death, the

Russian interior ministry The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

sent a replacement puppy Dobrynya (named after the

bogatyr A bogatyr ( rus, богатырь, p=bəɡɐˈtɨrʲ, a=Ru-богатырь.ogg) or vityaz ( rus, витязь, p=ˈvʲitʲɪsʲ) is a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear ma ...

Dobrynya Nikitich Dobrynya Nikitich (russian: Добрыня Никитич) is one of the most popular bogatyrs (epic knights) from Russian folklore. Albeit fictional, this character is based on a real warlord Dobrynya, who led the armies of Svyatoslav the Gre ...

) as a sign of solidarity with France. On 28 December, the

People's Dispensary for Sick Animals The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is a veterinary charity in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1917 by Maria Dickin to provide care for sick and injured animals of the poor. It is the UK's leading veterinary charity, carrying ...

(PDSA), a

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

in the United Kingdom, announced that Diesel was to be posthumously awarded the

Dickin Medal The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried o ...

for bravery. It is considered to be the animal equivalent of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, and it will be the 68th time that the medal has been awarded.

References

{{Use British English, date=December 2015 2015 animal deaths Individual dogs November 2015 Paris attacks Police dogs National Police (France) Deaths by firearm in France Individual dogs awarded the Dickin Medal fr:Opération policière du 18 novembre 2015 à Saint-Denis#AnchorDiesel

Working career

Legacy

See also

References