Syrian refugee carries husky pup to Europe in viral UN video

Among the hundreds of thousands of refugees travelling through Europe, a 17-year-old Syrian boy and his puppy caught the internet's attention last week.

Aslan Al Hakim and his blue-eyed husky Rose travelled 500 kilometres on foot from Damascus to the Greek island of Lesbos, according to a video by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

"I love this dog, I need him," the teen told freelance reporter Hereward Holland, adding that he was asked to abandon Rose at one point, but wouldn't let the dog go.

Somehow the authorities allowed him through.

Rose has a personal passport, however, and Aslan said that he can provide for his pet along the migration across Europe.

"I have food and I have water. I have anything," said Al Hakim.

One of the reasons the video was so short is because Al Hakim was actually in a rush to leave,the head of UNHCR's video unit, Edith Champagne,explained.

On Sept. 21, theAssociated Press came across the pup at a train station in Tovarnik, Croatia, though Al Hakim was not with the dog at the time.

Champagne confirmed that Al Hakim has been travelling with friends, who have limited themselves to a backpack each and Rose's kennel. From Croatia, the group has since visited Austria.

LastFriday,UNHCR checked in with the Syrian teen and found thathe's already made his way to northern Europe to bereunited with his family in Germany, approximately3,700 kilometres from where he started.

Champagnealso heard that he'sbeen temporarily separated fromRose.

She doesn't believe a lot of refugees make the journey with pets, but says that those who domay have beenmore middle class.

"Without making a generalization [...] there are a lot of middle-class people who are coming through this influx, you know? People who aredentistsand doctors and students and engineers and graphic artists," she told CBC News from Switzerland.

She added that like someone fromNorth America,"if a building is burning and they can save an animal, they're going to save that animal."

Posted on both the UN agency's Facebook and YouTube pages, she said the video is unlike most of those shared by the agency in that it was intended for social media, though largely by accident.

The freelance reporter who filmed it caught the footage in the middle of another project.

Yet thisdiversionattracted more than 200,000 views on YouTube and has been shared more than 57,000times on Facebook, where it has been viewed another 5.8 million times.

It is now among the most viewedvideos on the agency'sYouTube channel.

Champagnedidn't expect the video to become this popular, but said she sees it as an opportunity to humanize refugees.

"I think it's very hard when you see this many people coming across borders to sort of keep remembering that these are all individual stories," said Champagne.

"Sometimes it's impossible to imagine that you would get on a boat with your children knowing that they might drown, but this is a little easier watch. It just means you can identify with them."

She saidthat the agency doesn't intend to change the way it approaches making videos, but they maycatch up with Al Hakim and Rose as theirjourney continues.