Retirement for Canine Soldiers?
Oct. 10, 2000 -- Robby has given his best years in military service to his country. But broken teeth and arthritis prevent him from working at full capacity.
Now, the 11-year-old Belgian Malinois could meet a fate met by numerous other military working dogs before him: euthanization.
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would end the tradition of euthanizing military working dogs like Robby “at the end of their useful working life” and allow for their adoption.
“These military dogs are essentially no different than the thousands of police dogs who are adopted and allowed to live out their lives in dignity after a lifetime of service,” says Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., who introduced the measure. “DOD’s blanket euthanization policy is pointlessly tragic.”
The bill, known as H.R. 5314, has won the support of an array of animal rights groups, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Doris Day Animal League and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation.
Dogs Served in World War II
Military working dogs have served in the U.S. Army since the 1940s, according to the Department of Defense. They helped find mines and tunnels during WWII and detected ambushes in Vietnam.
Since Vietnam, dogs have participated in peacekeeping missions throughout the world and took part in missions to Grenada, Panama, Bosnia and Operation Desert Storm. In peacetime, the dogs work on drug intervention efforts along the U.S. southern borders.
The dogs are trained at a special school located at the 341st Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Under current practice, they are sent back to Lackland at the end of their lives and are used to train military personnel before being “put down.” According to Bartlett, some dogs are euthanized upon arrival to Lackland if no kennel space is available.
Others never make it back to the training squadron and are killed at their last training unit.
Retirement Homes for Chimps?
The Bartlett bill calls for euthanization only when medically necessary or necessary for public safety. The measure also promotes the adoption of retiring military dogs by their handlers, law enforcement agencies or others capable of caring for them.
Supporters of a similar proposal calling for a retirement home for sick chimpanzees used in government research hope passage of the military dog bill would help them move their bill through Congress, too.
The Chimp Act, as it is known, would create a national system of sanctuaries for chimpanzees that were formerly used in biomedical research but are no longer needed in government labs. Currently, the bill’s supporters say, U.S. taxpayers pay millions of dollars a year to support the upkeep of government-sponsored research chimps through funding of the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.
“The Chimp Act provides a win-win solution to a dilemma that has been plaguing both the research and animal protection communities for decades,” says Peggy Cunniff, executive director of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, an animal rights group.
On Sept. 20, the measure gained the approval of a Senate committee and awaits further action.