On November 19th early in the morning while it was still dark the French police raided an apartment in St Denis, north Paris. BBC News was reporting as the drama unfolded. What it failed to mention was that of the Research, Assistance, Intervention and Deterrence (Raid) unit the first to go in was Diesel, a female Belgian Shepherd dog.

According to The Guardian newspaper “Diesel had been sent in to the apartment ahead of officers to ascertain how dangerous the situation was when it was shot dead.”

She was just 7 years old.

There is so much wrong with this – where do I start?

First of all, Diesel was not an ‘it’. She was a she. Calling her ‘it’ indicates that she is an object of no significance.

Then let’s talk about the early evening television news in which the raid was reported by various on-the-spot correspondents. I did not see…