I am so thankful more and more people are realizing how much dogs can help people, whether physically or emotionally. It is remarkable the difference dogs make! You can read more about the therapy dog program at Walter Reed VA Hospital and Harvey Naranjo who started the program.
Helping in physical therapy.
Wounded Warriors training dogs.
Red Cross dogs visit.
This easily one of my favorite videos! I hope there are lots of happy reunions like these going on across the U.S. with troops coming home from Iraq. A heartfelt “Thank You!” to our troops and their families—I can’t imagine the hardships you’ve faced.
Officials in Baghdad began poisoning & shooting stray dogs on a large scale in April when they finally received funding to do something about the estimated 1.25-1.5 million stray dogs in Baghdad. In three months, the culling teams, made up of vets and police shooters, have killed about 58,000 dogs with plans to kill 1 million total. Residents are warned not to pick up the poisoned meat they’re putting out to kill the dogs. In addition to the danger of accidental human poisoning, there is the risk of poisoning “endangered species such as the Cinereous Vulture of which only 14-20,000 remain.”
Before you condemn Baghdad officials for this horrific slaughter, let me put this into terms to which you can better relate. Depending on the figure you use for the area of Baghdad (78.8 – 283.4 sq. miles) and using the lower estimate of strays (1.25 million), that breaks down to 12-39 stray dogs per city block. Can you even imagine what it would be like to live with anything close to that number of feral dogs—hungry, with parasites, and possibly diseased—running loose around your home? This is a public health issue.
Consider also that there aren’t any animal shelters in Baghdad and even before the war, culling is how officials dealt with stray dogs. Another complicating factor is that basic municipal services like garbage collection have not been restored since the war started in 2003 and trash in the streets is providing a ready food source for the stray dogs, which leads to more dogs surviving and to bigger litters. Some Baghdad streets have actually been blocked off by giant garbage piles.
A lot has to change, because clearly culling alone won’t fix anything. Besides restoring Baghdad to a functioning city, there have to be funds dedicated to animal welfare. It’s also critical that there be a campaign to change Iraqi views on spaying & neutering. From what I understand, it’s considered cruel and unnatural to spay & neuter dogs, even by veterinarians.
Gracie is so happy to see her “dad’ returning from Afghanistan she just can’t contain it. So cute! Gracie’s people are donating proceeds from the ads running to the shelter in Alexandria, Va from where they adopted her. Read the information about the video—they sound like neat people.
It looks like Gracie’s dad is headed back to Afghanistan tomorrow. We hope he returns home safely and soon!
I find that sometimes I really distance myself from some of the things going on in the world. I think it’s one of the ways we cope. For instance, part of me hears about the suicide bombings in Baghdad this week and thinks, “Well, that’s what it’s like in a war-torn country. People get killed. Life is dangerous and uncertain, but that’s just how it is over there.” But sometimes, I’m brought up short and am reminded that most of us, no matter where we live, are just regular people trying to do our best for ourselves and our families. We want our loved ones to be happy, we like to laugh with our friends, we want our children to be safe, and our families, including our animals, are the center of our lives. This is one of those stories that reminds me of just how similar we all are.
All the news stories I’ve seen about Iraqi dogs are ones where U.S. & U.K. soldiers are bringing them to the States or the U.K., like Nubs and Maj. Brian Dennis. But, this story is about an Iraqi family and their dog. On Tuesday, Baghdad was attacked by multiple bombings that killed 127 people. In Farouq Omar Muhei’s neighborhood, an ambulance packed with explosives leveled homes, including his. Muhei’s family was believed to dead, but only Muhei and his son were home at the time and they survived & were being treated at a clinic. In the meantime, his neighbors had spotted Muhei’s dog, Liza chained to a railing in the middle of the rubble, but, it was too dangerous for anyone to climb out there to get her. The next day, neighbors were surprised when Muhei and his son arrived to get Liza. Muhei’s brother was the one who crawled out onto the rubble because he was the only one with sturdy shoes. He carried a nervous, but happy Liza back to Muhei making their family complete again.
