it is good to know that the U.S. is taking good care of its military dogs. Thanks for finding the article, Rambi. I personally oppose all use of dogs or any other animals for military purposes, but my primary concern at this moment is the welfare of the animals, and so I am glad some dogs in Iraq are being well fed.
At the same time, the Iraqi police dogs are risking their lives without even being consulted, and doing the bidding of the U.S. military. We are directly behind everything the Iraqi police force does. From the article you quoted:
"The appeal to help feed the Iraqi dogs also has a human benefit. After all, having healthy Iraqi bomb-sniffing dogs translates into safer U.S. troops."
It is hard for me to understand why we couldn't provide some dog food for the Iraqi police dogs as well as for our own military dogs. I am really happy that so many people are contributing so generously to help them. That is such good news!
Here is a heart-warming article about our troops trying to bring home dogs they have fallen in love with in Iraq:
Operation Iraqi freedom goes to dogs: Vets help U.S. GIs bring pets home
DAVE SOMMERS, Staff Writer04/12/2004
In back alleyways and streets of towns across Iraq, U.S. service personnel must constantly be wary of insurgents who aim to kill and maim.
But in the midst of the bloodshed and peril, are a variety of lovable stray dogs, many of which have been "adopted" by American GI’s who want to bring their new-found pets home but can’t, due to costs and red tape.
Enter the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association, a group which recently launched a free program by which New Jersey National Guard members who bring back a scraggly pooch from Iraq can get their new pet examined for free.
"I was intrigued recently to read that some members of our armed forces .... are adopting local stray dogs that are ... very common in (Iraq)" said NJVMA President Clifford J. Sporn.
As a result, the NJVMA offered to help military personnel get their "mascots" checked out medically once in the United States.
"As veterinarians we are keenly aware of the special bond that forms between animals and humans (even in) ... the dangerous and difficult conditions of Iraq," he said.
Often soldiers have rescued their pets from abuse.
Little Baghdad, for example, was being used as a soccer ball when American soldiers saved her life, according to an article by Scripps Howard News Service writer Lisa Hoffman in the Arizona Daily Star.
Another dog, Honey, had to be rescued from a group of Kuwaiti’s who were kicking her and beating her with sticks, Hoffman wrote.
Elvis, a Doberman mix who was found whimpering under a pile of rubble in Baghdad, would not have survived if not for a group of US Special Forces which rescued the shivering mutt.
And Yoshi, a furry critter so small she fit in a combat helmet, was left an orphan when her mother was hit by a car, the Daily Star article said.
Meanwhile, NJVMA officials noted that the biggest problem for dog-adopting soldiers is getting that mascot through the maze of military regulations.
Not only is it very expensive to ship animals, there is often a plethora of civilian red tape regulations slowing the process.
Sporn said he’s advised the N.J. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs of NJVMA’s free veterinary service officer, and he has requested that the information be passed through military channels to N.J. National Guard personnel serving in the Gulf.
Once contacted, the NJVMA will refer soldiers or their familiesto a participating veterinarian near their home, Sporn said.
As for numbers, one media outlet in Iraq recently counted more than three dozen dogs which were being held at the Baghdad Zoo awaiting paperwork that authorizes their shipment to America.
The task is made even harder by the fact that until the country was liberated last year, Iraq did not have even a single animal welfare organization.
Military historians have long known that a dog or mascot rescued in a time of stress can provide soldiers overseas with an enormous morale boost, especially for those who’ve been away from family and friends for a long time.
One such soldier, Special Forces Sgt. Major William Gillette, of Clarksville, Tenn., rescued a dog he named Yo-ge (pronounced Yo-Gee) when his unit took over a checkpoint near the Iraq-Jordan border last year.
A full-blooded German Shepherd, Yo-gee at the time was being held by one Iraqi and beaten by two others, according to the article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Gillette, 34, "persuaded" the men to let the dog go, and then took the mutt back to his unit. He and Yo-gee have been together ever since, and he even speaks to the dog in Arabic.
"He’d walk with me when I checked buildings," Gillette told the Post-Dispatch.
"When I pulled guard duty, he’d go with me. He’d sleep at the foot of my mattress. Me and him just hit it off. So, I made the decision to bring him back (to the United States.)" Gillette said.
On the downside, soldiers who attempt to bring their rescued mascot home frequently run into roadblocks, the biggest one being that the military forbids dogs from being taken on transport planes.
And the cost of shipping a dog back to the states commercially can range from $700 and $2,000, depending on the type of flight and the cost of a health certificate.
In addition to that impediment, the main route for getting the U.S.-bound animals out of Iraq -- a 10-hourroad-trip across the western Iraqi desert to Jordan -- is occasionally closed off by the Jordanian government worried about health risks.
As a result, some soldiers have sought help from U.S. animal organizations such as Military Mascots, a group that helps soldiers bring home adopted pets.
In other cases, volunteers have contributed thousands of dollars to help cover the cost of getting the dogs home, and to provide them with a foster home until their human owners arrive.
Another group, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (www.wspa-usa.org) has developed connections with overseas veterinarians and with commercial airlines that allow transporting of dogs.
"It’s all about supporting the troops," says one Web site which discounts arguments from some that claim there are already too many dogs in America.
"If President Bush were away from his family and dogs, you can’t tell me if he passed a dog that was suffering, he wouldn’t stop and help that animal, regulation or not," Bonnie Buckley, coordinator Adopt-a-Cause, a volunteer organization which helps soldiers bring dogs home from Iraq, told the Daily Star.
Other groups which help soldiers bring home adopted dogs includes AdoptPaws, which can be contacted at www.adoptpaws.org/mascots.
Another group, Military Mascots, can also be contacted on the Internet.
zwire.com |
