July 13, 2009, Washington, DC – On Saturday, July 11, actresses Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters honored SPCA International at the annual “Broadway Barks” – a star-studded dog and cat adopt-a-thon in New York City hosted Broadway Cares. SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups program was awarded a PEDIGREE® certificate for outstanding service and courageous efforts on behalf of U.S. service members and their pets.
Operation Baghdad Pups is a SPCA International program created to provide veterinary care, clearance, and transport for animals that U.S. service members have come to love during deployment in the Middle East. To date, SPCA International has rescued over 150 animals for service members.
Operation Baghdad Pups’ most recent rescue on June 1, 2009, was a dog named Laia, whose soldier was killed in Iraq in May as a result of wounds from a roadside bomb. Laia is now living a safe, happy, healthy life in Michigan.
SPCA International requests donations in honor of all our military heroes and the countless animal casualties of war.
If you’ve ever tried to transport an animal long-distance, you know that it’s a complex process that can cost a lot of money — and it can be even more difficult for servicemembers and their families, who must foot the bill for transporting pets due to frequent relocations, often to other countries. For some, the costs and logistics can be overwhelming, and it was for that reason that SPCA International (SPCAI), which has plenty of experience saving dogs and cats, has a new program assisting those needing to relocate their pets.
“SPCAI has been running the program Operation Baghdad Pups for 5 years,” says Stephanie Scott, director of communications for SPCAI. “Throughout our time working to save dogs and cats U.S. troops befriended in wars in the Middle East, we often heard of the hardships military families face here at home with their pets. Our experiences with Operation Baghdad Pups showed us time and time again how important animals are to our troops and their families.
“We have many stories of moms and dads stationed in Iraq who would give the dog or cat they were sending home a hug before handing it off to the SPCAI transporters. That mom or dad would then call their kids at home and say, ‘When you hug the dog you will be getting a hug from me.’ In other cases we received direct requests from soldiers stationed in other places around the world who needed assistance getting their domestic pets to or from their duty station and the U.S. And we heard from shelters near military bases about the high rates of surrender when military families couldn’t afford the high costs of their family pets to new stations. So, as we witnessed all these things, the idea of a program dedicated to this issue began to take shape.”
As a result, SPCAI has just formed a new initiative called Operation Military Pets to assist servicemembers and their families in transporting pets. The need for assistance is so great that Operation Military Pets received eleven requests for assistance within its first week.
Morgan’s Story: Veteran’s PTSD Confidant in Crisis
As an example of the type of work SPCAI does, in 2012 it aided an Air Force veteran who had recently returned from Afghanistan and was enduring PTSD. The veteran’s brother contacted SPCAI, wanting to relocate the veteran from San Diego to the brother’s family in the Northeast so he could receive support and treatment for his PTSD — the only problem was that the veteran refused to move without bringing his longtime friend, a cocker spaniel named Morgan, and couldn’t afford the hundreds of dollars it would cost to bring Morgan with him. SPCAI rushed the veteran a financial grant to cover the cost of Morgan’s flight to the Northeast, and a few days later, Morgan and the veteran flew east together.
The mission statement for Operation Military Pets is as follows:To keep military families together by providing financial assistance for pet relocation costs. All branches of the military can qualify for grants. Whether being relocated within the United States or anywhere in the world, SPCA International’s Operation Military Pets aim is to keep pets with the ones they love
For more information about the program, check out the operation’s home page at www.spcai.org; the program also gratefully accepts donations. If you’d like to apply for assistance, fill out this form. Anyone who wishes to donate to the program can click through to this page and select the increment they’d like to send.
Article Courtesy of USA Today
By James K. Sanborn, Marine Corps Times
A former Marine colonel is fighting to bring home a little four-legged piece of Iraq. John Folsom, who was Camp Taqaddum’s commandant in 2008, hopes to bring Smoke the donkey home to Nebraska to brighten the lives of children whose parents are serving overseas. Folsom and Smoke first met when a Marine under Folsom’s command decided to catch one of the many donkeys wandering the base outside Fallujah. “I came out one Sunday morning and found this donkey tied up outside my hooch,” says Folsom, who was with the 1st Marine Logistics Group.
By James K. Sanborn – Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jan 12, 2011 5:27:33 EST
A former Marine colonel is fighting to bring a little four-legged piece of Iraq home. John Folsom, who served as Camp Taqaddum’s commandant in 2008, hopes to bring “Smoke” the donkey home to Nebraska to work with the children of veteran’s who are struggling to cope with their parent’s military service. Folsom and Smoke first met when a Marine under Folsom’s command decided to catch one of the many donkeys wandering the base outside of Fallujah. “I came out one Sunday morning and found this donkey tied up outside my hooch,” said Folsom, who was serving with 1st Marine Logistics Group.
The Marines immediately took a liking to the beast of burden. They tended to wounds on his legs, fed him and even dubbed him the group’s mascot. He got his name for his grey color and tendency to snatch up cigarettes — lit or not. Although regulations ban keeping pets in the war zone, a Navy lieutenant helped designate Smoke a therapy animal and the donkey was cleared to stay, Folsom said. Soon enough, Smoke was receiving care packages of his own from the U.S. that included donkey treats and blankets.
But when the 1st MLG pulled out of Taqaddum, it had to abandon Smoke. Left in the care of an Army major, the donkey was handed off to a local sheik. Folsom, head of Wounded Warriors Family Support, a nonprofit organization, has been fighting since October to bring Smoke back to the U.S. where he will work with the families of wounded warriors. Folsom was eventually able to track down the Iraqi sheik, who said he had given the donkey to a family near Fallujah. Recognizing the sentimental value of Smoke, he demanded an outrageous price — $30,000. Folsom called the bluff. “We heard that and said, ‘As long as you are taking care of the donkey, that’s fine with us.’ They let up once they realized that wasn’t going to happen,” Folsom said. The sheik offered to turn the donkey over free of charge after he learned that it might make him look good in the eyes of U.S. forces still in Iraq.
Now the challenge is to get the donkey shipped to the U.S. Folsom is working through the “Operation Baghdad Pups” program, run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International. Since 2008, the program has transported more than 250 dogs and cats back to the U.S. But dogs and cats can be brought home on commercial flights. Smoke will require a special cargo flight. An SPCA spokeswoman said she did not know the cost to ship Smoke but that her organization was footing the bill. As of press time, Folsom had heard that Smoke was being corralled by the sheik and would likely be en route to an airbase in Arbil, Iraq, by Dec. 30. Folsom remained skeptical. “I’ve given up on a timeline … I’ve heard that three or four times,” he said.
On Sunday, November 15th at 10pm, a documentary featuring Operation Baghdad Pups will premier on Military Channel. No Dog Left Behind tells the harrowing and heartwarming tales of four military servicemen who bonded with animals in the war zone and the SPCA International program that helped themreunite with their buddies in the U.S. The documentary features miraculous stories and in-depth reporting that will bring you to tears and strengthen your American pride. Watch Sunday, November 15th at 10pm! View the trailer below.
K’S PATH, the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat, is a nonprofit working to protect the future of animals and the places they live. This video shows their new baboon enclosure and the introduction of a six-month-old male into a family of two older females on May 8, 2009. The new baboon enclosure was built with the help of an SPCA International Emergency Grant.
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