By now, we've all heard of "Cairo" the brave military dog that was with the Navy SEAL Commandos that raided Osama bin Laden's compound. Although his breed still has not been divulged, we learned from a piece in the Huffington Post published just this afternoon, that part of his job was to track anyone who tried to escape from bin Laden's compound and to alert the commandos to anyone approaching that area.
But it seems that Cairo has served another, perhaps unintended purpose: he's bumped the applications for adopting retired military dogs sky high. According to this post, about 300 retired military dogs are put up for adoption each year, but "officials say that they've received more than 400 adoption applications in the three weeks since the May 2 raid." We say, "Kudos to Cairo!"
Another important point raised in this post is the hefty cost to adopt a retired military dog- the adoptive owners usually must pay to transport the dog from overseas on commercial flights, costing between $1000-$2000. According to military personnel interviewed for this article, when retired dogs are adopted, they no longer belong to the military, "so it would be fraud, waste and abuse for the {Department of Defense] to transport that pet." And get this: "officially, military dogs are considered equipment, and retired dogs are excess or surplus equipment". (We can't help but wonder if the military doesn't routinely pay to transport surplus equipment...). Thankfully, there's a move underway to reclassify the dogs as canine veterans, which will take an act of Congress. We will investigate how we can get involved with this movement and let you know. Both Parental Unit and I think a write-in campaign to our congress persons is in order.
Read the full and fascinating article here: www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110524/us-fea-pets-war-dogs/ and let us know what you think. Equipment or veterans?
4 comments:
I thinks Cairo was a dachshund...bwhahahaha!
Give me a break...they are considered EQUIPMENT???? Actually, I'm not surprised since pets are considered PROPERTY!
It amazes me dat after alls service dogs do to protect our country and da service men and women, da government can turn their backs on them when they retire. The government owes it them to make sures they get to their furever homes in da end.
Puddles...dis is just my opinion though, sorry.
Police dogs retire to their handler... USUALLY. Butt military dawgs... Pfffffft they are just not given that chance. I hope that this new movement does take root!!
In defense of the military though.. the men and women who are serving.. are basically military property too.
Good Points from both Puddles and Frankie Furter! As promised, PU and I will investigate what we can do to influence Congress.
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