Save our heroic hounds
Anger at plan to put down Army dogs that helped to save lives in Afghanistan
TWO Army dogs which helped save thousands of lives in Afghanistan are to be put down because officers have been unable to rehome them.
Belgian Shepherds Kevin and Dazz are due to be given lethal injections next week unless a campaign to save them succeeds.
The dogs sniffed out explosives on several tours of Helmand Province but were retired from frontline service four years ago and put in the care of trainers at the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
Army chiefs had hoped the nineyear-old dogs would be rehomed. But the centre’s commanding officer decided to put them down after a recent incident in which another dog bit a civilian.
A former police hound named Driver is also due to be put down.
SAS hero Andy McNab has now started a petition to save the dogs, which has attracted more than 22,000 signatures. The former soldier, now a best-selling author, said: ‘Service dogs have saved my life on numerous occasions. We have a duty to save them.
‘In Afghanistan when I was on a patrol the dogs found an improvised explosive device in front of us. I was number three in line and was very, very lucky to survive.
‘They saved countless lives sniffing out explosives when I was in the Special Air Service.’ Other former soldiers and the dogs’ handlers have also written to the commanding officer in protest.
One handler told The Sun: ‘People who worked closely with these dogs are devastated at the plans – they’ve begged to save them all.
‘There’s no protocol to decide if a dog is put down. The commanding officer decides and that’s it. It’s such a cruel way to treat animals that have given so much.
‘We’ll do anything to save these dogs. We’ll go to Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson if need be.’ Almost 400 dogs are now working in the Army, detecting IEDs, searching buildings and vehicles, and patrolling key sites. Many have served in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia.
At the end of their service they are ‘de-trained’ by experts to prepare them for possible rehoming into the civilian population.
Although not all dogs are suitable for rehoming, rigorous procedures are followed to find them homes where possible and there is a waiting list of applicants prepared to take them.
If, at the end of de-training, dogs are considered too old, dangerous, below standard, ill or unfit, they will be put down.
An Army spokesman said: ‘Wherever possible we endeavour to rehome military working dogs. Sadly there are occasions where this is not possible.’