{"id":15575,"date":"2013-11-11T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petspyjamas.com\/blog\/?p=15575"},"modified":"2025-03-03T13:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T12:11:28","slug":"animals-wartime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petspyjamas.com\/blog\/animals-wartime\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembrance Day: Animals in wartime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-15576 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1-690x460.jpg\" alt=\"1\" width=\"690\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.petspyjamas.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1-690x460.jpg 690w, https:\/\/www.petspyjamas.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1.jpg 766w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Remembrance Day is a time to honour the men and women who have risked or lost their lives in times of war however we mustn&#8217;t forget the sacrifices made by animals. In World War 1 alone, eight million horses were killed and another 2.5 million were injured transporting soldiers, arms and supplies into battle. And the dog&#8217;s innate qualities of intelligence and devotion meant that, not surprisingly, they have played a significant role in wartime. Running messages, laying telegraph wires, detecting mines, digging out bomb victims and acting as guard or patrol dogs, dogs have battled on despite horrific and terrifying circumstances where they have showed courage and supreme loyalty to their handlers. Cats have also played their part, serving by catching rats on ships and carrying messages around their necks on to the battlefield.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from using them for their unique skills, many animals have played a part by acting as pets and mascots, \u00a0offering comfort and companionship and helping to boost morale among troops.<\/p>\n<p>This picture shows how some British soldiers in Afghanistan have adopted local dogs as pets, getting their families to send them dog food so they can feed the animals.<!--nextpage--><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15577 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2.jpg\" alt=\"2\" width=\"640\" height=\"488\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cats served during wartime by catching rats on ships.\u00a0The kitten mascot of aircraft carrier HMS Eagle is seen here in her specially made hammock, during WW2.<!--nextpage--><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15578 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/3.jpg\" alt=\"3\" width=\"438\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dogs were great companions to soldiers and often provided them with light relief. This image from 1941 shows\u00a0Venus, the bulldog mascot of the HMS Vansittart, at the wheel of the ship.<!--nextpage--><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15579 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/4.jpg\" alt=\"4\" width=\"460\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This explosives sniffing dog- a member of Austria&#8217;s version of the SAS &#8211; took part in Operation Cold Response in Norway along with British special forces and Royal Marines assault teams.\u00a0Securely strapped to his handler he parachuted 10,000ft from a transporter plane.<!--nextpage--><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15580 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/5.jpg\" alt=\"5\" width=\"630\" height=\"443\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Often the bond between animal and handler is deep rooted. \u00a0Theo, a Sprinter Spaniel who searched for roadside bombs in Helmand province, in Afghanistan died of a fatal seizure hours after his owner, Cpl. Liam Tasker, was killed during a firefight. However, Cpl. Tasker\u2019s mother insists the dog died of a broken heart. Shortly after his death, Theo was awarded the prestigious PDSA Dickin Medal, which is Britain\u2019s highest award for bravery by an animal. Theo was the 28th dog to receive the award out of a total of 64 medals.<!--nextpage--><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15581 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/6.jpg\" alt=\"6\" width=\"634\" height=\"434\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even during the First World War animals were on the front line. Here a captain and his pet dog lead members of the Royal Berkshire Regiment in France in 1914.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remembrance Day is a time to honour those who have risked or lost their lives during wartime however we mustn&#8217;t forget the sacrifices animals have also made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":15582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,4,790,271],"class_list":["post-15575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-cat","tag-dog","tag-news","tag-pet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Remembrance Day: Animals in wartime \/ PetsPyjamas<\/title>\r\n<meta 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