We leave military dogs behind…WTF?
Last week I saw a news story that nearly made my head pop off. Greta Van Susteren ran a story about military dogs being left behind in the Iraq and Afghanistan after they have served and saved lives…to fend for themselves.
So it works likes this…the IED detecting service dogs save the lives of 150-200 soldiers per dog. When the dogs are done serving they are considering “civilians” and thus the military will not bring them home…SO THEY LEAVE THEM IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. This makes me sick. Kindness to animals is simple and easy and in this case doing the right thing couldn’t be more obvious. We are a nation of people who are over-flowing with good will and generosity yet we leave dogs who save the lives of our military heros to fend for themselves in horrid desert countries. REALLY?
Many of the service men and women who handle these dogs want to keep them when the dogs are retired from service and give them the life and home they deserve. Unfortunately they would have to personally fund the costs to fly the dogs back from Iraq and Afghanistan since the military doesn’t fund it. The American Humane Association is working to fly these dogs back to the U.S. I am adding them to my list of groups that I give donations to.
Pass this story on…we can do so much better for these amazing dogs!
Rescue On!
Nancy
Very nice post. Many years ago I asked a Vietnam vet who whorked with dogs about the dogs that could not return, he got quite emotional so I stopped asking about it. I had seen a documentary about it and was shocked that many dogs , also house dogs (a campaign asked people to donate their dog for service) were sent to the area, but never came back.
I had no idea this still happens today. Not only is it sad for the dogs, it is heart breaking for the ones who worked with them too.