Rescue Colonel the Dog!

[Tobi]

No matter what operations may already be in mind, or have already been dismissed by the military or Special Forces....
It can't do any harm to let the Department of Defence know what the people think:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/rescu...el-the-dog

Rescue Colonel the Dog

To:
The RT. Hon.Mr Philip Hammond. Secretary of State for Defence.
Dear Mr Hammond,
The military working dog, named 'Colonel' is a soldier. As a soldier, and prisoner of war, an attempt has to be made to rescue him. "No soldier left behind."
We, the undersigned, ask that you will persuade relevant departments of the Ministry of Defence, to mount an operation -whether covert or overt -to get this loyal soldier back into his home territory.

Yours sincerely,
(those who sign)

Big fuss a week ago....now it seems people are beginning to forget him.

Please share this petition, Tweet it....Facebook it....etc
Colonel also has a Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/freecolonelthedog

[Catherine]

I am glad there is a petition. It will help keep the story alive until something can be done. If enough people show concern no government can ignore an issue.

I really hope something is being done to help Colonel. No soldier should ever be left behind, especially not a canine soldier.

[Janay]

Me and Simon both just signed!

[Catherine]

We still hope that Colonel will find his way home. I think the army owes him a rescue attempt. Maybe he could be part of a prisoner exchange or something.

[LPC]

I suspect that the UK Govt does not regard this as important. "Just a dog - expendable", they probably think. I still hope that one day they will find Colonel, but the media have moved on to more "exciting" stories, it seems.

On the Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/freecolonelthedog - there are some disturbing pictures of dogs being used for dog fighting, with crowds watching. Thankfully, he does not appear to be of a breed suitable for such fighting. Blessings to you, dear Colonel!

[Tobi]

An update is that the UK Secretary of State for Defence is now The Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP.

Also we have got 1053 signatures, with lots of Facebook and Twitter shares. That does show many people care about Colonel. I am almost sure in a practical way it will be Mission Impossible, but I think those people deserve to be heard. In the UK a military working dog is personnel, not equipment.

The thought of dog fighting also crossed my mind, LPC. Ironically, the Taliban banned dog fighting as being non Islamic. But unfortunately it has become quite a 'sport' in Afghanistan, with a winning fighting dog being a big money-earner. So it still goes on. But thank you Taliban for trying to ban it (for your own reasons)

I can see Colonel's character. He has a lovely Soul. I hope he holds onto his integrity through whatever might happen. I wish I could get him out of there of course....

Fitas, a French military working-dog made it out of Taliban captivity and was returned to his handler.
http://www.wat.tv/video/aventure-fitas-c...eyxv_.html

The video is in French. My French is not brilliant, so I only understood some of it. The dog looks okay basically, very well except for a sore foot, but I can sense he has experienced things which upset his balance.

[LPC]

The video appears to come from 2012. I just did a quick search for Fitas and found these:
https://www.facebook.com/MilitaryWorking...2758890751
and
http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/27/rebe...de-guerre/
and
https://books.google.fr/books?id=KFUDPnW...&q&f=false (if this link doesn't work, try https://books.google.fr/books?isbn=1617726966).

The sad news: brave Fitas sadly passed over as a result of his wound becoming seriously infected. The good news: he was awarded the French Gold Medal of National Defence with the silver star. Run free on astral planes, dearest Fitas!

[Tobi]

Thanks for those links LPC.
Blessings dear Fitas. Run free now and be happy.

Yes it was 2012 when Fitas got back to his unit, and he had spent months with the Taliban (whereas Colonel has been there over a year.)
From the article it is unclear how Fitas made his escape -whether he ran away or whether he was rescued. And it's almost certain we shall never know. There are locals who will co-operate to transport dogs within Afghanistan, for a fee, but what they do is incredibly risky and there has to be the utmost secrecy about it. There is usually a secret network of helpers who relay the dog between different places (information gleaned from Pen Farthing's book "One Dog At a Time -Saving the Strays of Helmand.")

I saw Fitas' foot. It looks swollen and infected. It seems as if the infection may have become systemic. No doubt they pumped him full of antibiotics, but the lack of early veterinary care probably had a lot to do with this wound turning very bad. His captors are likely not to have cared. But even if they did, there would have been little they could have done about it. Vet care for animals is almost non-existent in Afghanistan. However this is changing! The rescue centre in Kabul (Nowzad) brings in foreign vets and started a training programme for Afghan vets! There are a few good locals working there now and some of them women, (highly unusual!) which is a good step forward. An interest has sprung up in animal welfare there at least.

[Catherine]

I am glad Fitas was able to escape and spend his last days with his own people.
Who knows, some day Colonel might make it home.

Very slowly things are improving for dogs in Afghanistan. Someday they will all be rescued and well cared for. They are a brave and dedicated group of people who are willing to take risks to save dogs.

Maybe some day someone will recognize Colonel and will help to free him.

[Tobi]

The signatures keep coming in. So it is obvious some people won't just forget about him.

I think we need to petition the Patron Saint of Lost Causes.

But nevertheless we won't forget, and won't let the government sweep this under the carpet because he is 'just a dog'.
He is military personnel.

(Strangely, while clicking the link on the petition blurb, to get to the little video for Colonel, I found this in the site description (which I certainly hadn't ever written):
"Yeah, keep it. Undo Close."

Now I wonder who put that on the site description for the video link on google search results -and why....?