http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517413/The-kamikaze-canines-blew-destroy-Nazi-tanks-WWII-photographs-reveal-Stalins-dogs-war-explosives-strapped-them.html
We3, short for Animal Weapon 3, presents an alternative reality and quasi-dystopian view of how humans hierarchize other life and thereby employ it as a means to an end. Many of those participating in the weapons research project treat animals as disposable objects, things used and then later replaced; that said, a single researcher and the society at large within the graphic narrative hold different ethical standards regarding the topic.
Whereas We3 seems to only warn of the danger of unbridled science, history provides examples in which animals have been weaponized and employed in warfare. From war elephants to mounted cavalry, humans have designed equipment – “coat[s]” in the words of Bandit – and fitted animals with such, creating a more controlled, mechanical creature to wield in battle. My blog post concerns the use of dogs trained by the Russians in World War II to disable enemy tanks and render them useless. Although the intended plan involved the dogs attaching explosives to tanks’ exposed underbellies, the Russians ultimately used the dogs as suicide bombers because of the risk associated with the dogs not properly planting the devices or returning without completing the task. The link above depicts pictures and sketches of the anti-tank dogs, showing not only the physical configuration of the dogs with their explosive gear but also the figurative treatment of animals as expendable and thereby not worthy of life. Accordingly, the Russians’ use of weaponized animals differs from previous historical examples and resembles more of the social reality of We3, for humans no longer directly commanded and fought alongside their animals but rather outsourced the most dangerous elements in an act of cowardice and cruelty.