Parachuting dogs join war effort
The British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) is training German Shepherds to parachute into enemy territory and, with cameras mounted to their heads, sniff out insurgents and warn of ambushes.
The dogs jump from planes at high altitude wearing oxygen masks and strapped to soldiers. On the ground, their cameras transmit images back to special forces teams, the Sun of London said in a report yesterday. The article includes a photo of one of the skydiving dogs.
The dogs, earmarked for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, are intended to reduce the number of civilian casualties.
"The dogs will be exposed to very high levels of danger on these operations and you never know what's going to be behind a door," an SAS source is quoted as saying. "Nobody wants to see the dogs get killed but if it's their life or a man's it is obvious which the CO would prefer."
Two dogs have reportedly been assigned to each of the regiment's four squadrons and their handlers are learning the techniques for parachuting with dogs at high altitudes from American special forces instructors.
Using dogs for war goes all the way back to ancient Egypt. And putting them in parachutes isn't new, either. In World War II the British Army used parachute dogs to take messages behind enemy lines in North Africa and France.
(Photo by Associated Press)
Comments
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I understand the desire to cut down on KIAs, but there was a time when the responsibilities of man's best friend were limited to fetching the newspaper and helping you bag chicks. Taking one for Fido's country is a new one. Besides, without opposable thumbs, how do they pull the chutes?
Posted by: Bill Oram | July 22, 2008 12:45 PM
This is disgusting and infuriating news. In countries where dogs are already routinely and casually maimed, abused, abandoned, neglected and killed, do we really need to expose to sure death these valued and trained animals in this way? It is just pandering and "marketing" to declare that it's a choice between a soldier's life or a dog's life, or that how nice, the ancient Romans also used dogs in war. In an era of fabulous, utterly smart and highly clandestine electronics, I can't believe that anyone finds acceptable the use of animals as war bait. People love to hate PETA and similar organizations, but at least they protest mightily and can often reverse actions when these sorts of abominations are brought to public attention. Dogs strapped to parachuting soldiers? How terrifying and inhumane for both parties.
Posted by: EighteenPaws | July 22, 2008 12:52 PM
Agree completely with EighteenPaws, who said it very well. We need to leave all nonhuman animals out of the wars.
Posted by: Linda | July 22, 2008 9:39 PM
I'm a bit queasy about this despite having been brought up in a military family where "dogs of war" were accepted and admired. In fact, I have a book by that name--a relic of my earliest childhood that tells the stories of various dogs of World War II. (No, I'm not that old--it belonged to my father.)
My impression from that old book was always that while the dogs were certainly exposed to terrible risks and dangers, they were sharing those dangers right along with their human handlers--as opposed to being sent into places where human beings would not go. Of course that might have been propaganda or an idealized picture.
There are so many situations where dogs can make genuine, lifesaving contributions. This sounds more like sending lambs to the slaughter.
Posted by: Anne | July 22, 2008 9:47 PM