Incredible journey by dogs of war

AMID the mayhem and terror of postrevolution Libya, it is a rare heartwarming story of courage under fire. But it is one that, as yet, still does not have the happy ending it deserves.

It concerns the fate of more than 100 pet dogs belonging to embassy staff — many of them Britons — that were abandoned as the shells rained down on Tripoli’s diplomatic quarter.

But now, thanks to the extraordinary bravery of a Libyan vet who risked his life, scores of the pets have been reunited with their owners.

According to Foreign Office aide Sue Kirk, Dr Jalal rescued the animals then took them to safety across the Tunisian border.

The assistant to former British Ambassador Richard Northern says her four-year-old white mongrel, Bertie, was one of the pets rescued by Dr Jalal after her house in Gaddafi’s compound was looted and burned.

Sue, 66, who worked for the Foreign Office for 17 years before retiring to Morocco, where she formerly worked as aide to our man in Rabat, Sir Vincent Fean, tells me: ‘I happened to be on holiday in Britain when the real fighting started in the compound and I was told not to return.

‘I lost all my possessions — and I feared I would lose Bertie, too.’

But a friend took the dog, along with others, to the clinic of Dr Jalal, and he smuggled them out of the country. Says Sue: ‘He did some remarkable and unheralded things during the bloodshed

‘He managed to arrange for the animals to be driven to the border with Tunisia — going through some of the most dangerous areas which were being bombed — and I owe him an awful lot. But all my attempts to trace Dr Jalal have failed.’

She doesn’t even know if he has survived the violence. Discreet efforts are under way by several diplomatic missions to track the vet down so that he can be properly thanked — and paid.

Sue’s dog was flown to Casablanca where she collected him.

‘ He was in a terrible state because he hates loud noises and he had faced bombs and shells, but Dr Jalal had given him all his jabs and had microchipped him.

‘I can’t thank him enough and I only wish I knew he is alive.’