Help Save a Dog

[The Crusader]

your help can save this doggie over in Iraq....
from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081014/...pe/iraqi_puppy

to petition Ratchet petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/clemency-for-ratchet


WASHINGTON - More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a Minnesota soldier, who fears that "Ratchet" could be killed if left behind.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I just want my puppy home," Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail Sunday from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. "I miss my dog horribly." Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.

Ratchet's defenders are ratcheting up their efforts to save him. On Monday, the program coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups, which is run by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, left for a trip to the Middle East to try to get the puppy to the U.S.

And last week, Beberg's congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, wrote to the Army urging it to review the case.

Beberg and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash back in May. Defense Department rules prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets, but exceptions have been made. Operation Baghdad Pups says it has gotten 50 dogs and six cats transferred to the U.S. in the last eight months.

"I'm coping reasonably well because I refuse to believe that Ratchet has been hurt," Beberg wrote in the e-mail to her mother, Patricia Beberg. "If I find out that he was killed though — well, we just won't entertain that possibility."

The mother said her daughter sent another e-mail saying that she confirmed that the dog was still alive and doing OK.

Operation Baghdad Pups' program coordinator, Terri Crisp, is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Wednesday. Crisp said the adopted dogs left behind face death on Iraqi streets.

She said Iraqis view dogs and cats as nuisances and carriers of disease, and U.S. soldiers have rescued many of them from abuse.

___

On the Web:

Ratchet petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/clemency-for-ratchet

[Eric Perry]

Signed!

[steamthief]

How about adopting one at a local shelter?

[fenderhutz]

Originally Posted by steamthief

How about adopting one at a local shelter?

The soldier saved this dog as a puppy from a trash pile fire and she is just looking to bring it back to the states with her.

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by steamthief

How about adopting one at a local shelter?

+1 Sheesh, it's just a dog. There are plenty that need homes here.

The day there is 34.000 signatures on a petition to save a human life, I might sign. But this is ridiculous.

[fenderhutz]

I will agree however getting a congressman involved is a little much and actually wasting resources (money etc.) to get this dog back is a little silly considering.

[The Crusader]

Originally Posted by steamthief

How about adopting one at a local shelter?

many people do that every day or have done it. these circumstances are quite different but not uncommon. this woman, who I thank for serving our country quite well, saved and befriended this pup. many other people have brought home pets from Iraq, there's no reason to stop now, especially when charities are paying the freight.

quoting joeinsprings "+1 Sheesh, it's just a dog. There are plenty that need homes here.

The day there is 34.000 signatures on a petition to save a human life, I might sign. But this is ridiculous."

sorry to have bothered you then. but I'm curious as to how you can bother to post in this thread, but you can't take some time to help this woman and her pet? why do you find this ridiculous? is someone loving an animal bad thing to you?

[WookieeForLife]

Hmm this is taking a turn down moral lane. Id say they should just let her keep the dog. But come on. A internet petition over a dog. There are dogs back home that would love a home. Just my two cents.

[fenderhutz]

Again I am not trying to take a moral high or low road. I have two dogs that were shelter dogs that are spoiled rotten.

Dogs are highly thought of as pets in this country. Some people even spoil them as children.

Dogs are highly thought of as dinner in other countries. They ARE a nuisance and carry disease without the proper vaccines and care.

I think it's great they are trying to get the dog she saved back to her, but that money that was spent on the "rescue" effort could have been put to good use somewhere else. Air fare isn't cheap.

I know if I wanted to take my dog to England I would have had to have all of it shots up to date and you used to have to put them in quarantine before you could travel with them for a couple weeks.

Let's just hope these animals are given the same treatment with shots and quarantines so they aren't bringing disease for other loved ones pets.

[The Crusader]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Again I am not trying to take a moral high or low road.

I never meant to imply that you were either way.

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

I have two dogs that were shelter dogs that are spoiled rotten.

I commend you for that. my 4 dogs were also (2 passed away last year. now some of you understand where my passion comes from)

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Dogs are highly thought of as pets in this country. Some people even spoil them as children.

Dogs are highly thought of as dinner in other countries. They ARE a nuisance and carry disease without the proper vaccines and care.

I think it's great they are trying to get the dog she saved back to her, but that money that was spent on the "rescue" effort could have been put to good use somewhere else. Air fare isn't cheap.

all true, but do keep in mind that when people donate, they do it for what makes them feel good. so if these donations for this particular program, of rescuing Iraqi war dogs, are used for this reason, then so be it.

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Let's just hope these animals are given the same treatment with shots and quarantines so they aren't bringing disease for other loved ones pets.

if you do some research on the subject, you'll see that that is the case.

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by The Crusader

sorry to have bothered you then. but I'm curious as to how you can bother to post in this thread, but you can't take some time to help this woman and her pet? why do you find this ridiculous? is someone loving an animal bad thing to you?

OK RANT ON: My biggest reason? Its a damn dog. An animal. Yet it has 34.000 petitions, a congressman, and an entire charity pulling in for it. Could you imagine 34.000 petitions for a prisoner of war to be released? Or 34.000 petitions for a child in an orphanage to get proper medical treatment? I don't think so. I just checked the yahoo news front page, and this is the third top story in the politics section.

I mean, a dog's life is still a life, and it should be respected as such. But it is still an animal. But people go all gaga when an animal gets less than perfect treatment. If it makes the news, people will cry their hearts out until said animal is "saved". Yet people are dying and being mistreated all the time, and there in the news all the time. But that's just news, not a dire threatening emergency I guess?

There are much more pressing issues out there than to worry about a single dog that needs a home. My city is small, 1/2 million people, yet there are over 4000 animals that have to be euthanized every year because there are no homes for them. I respect what this organization is doing in trying to help the helpless, but there are plenty of other animals here in our home that they could be fretting for.

And no, I won't sign a petition, but I will respond to a thread about it. Why? In my opinion a petition is something that a person signs in that he or she believes is a right and noble cause for the betterment of society or for their own personal benefit. It would take me two minutes of my time to sign my name and other contact info. It will take me the same time to post a quick reply here on TB.

Call me a black hearted scum if you will, but I do not believe this is something that is worthy of my time and name. I have three dogs from the shelters, many cats, goats, chickens, and a few other odds and ends of animals, and I take care of them all equally. It is sad to see them go, but its part of life. Seeing someone so attached to an animal that they go to these measures, I believe is wrong. Sorry, there are much more important issues than animals. RANT OFF


PS: If you opened a thread on any internet forum (especially TB OT), and did not expect opinions other than your own to surface, I can't help you. This is a fourm, not a bulletin board. People discuss and present there opinions on forums.

[LowRanger]

Signed.

Thank you Crusader, I'm with you all the way on this one. There's no such thing as "just a dog."

[funkalicious101]

A dog from Iraq?

Extensive background checks better be involved if he can come back...

[Rattman]

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

+1 Sheesh, it's just a dog. There are plenty that need homes here.

The day there is 34.000 signatures on a petition to save a human life, I might sign. But this is ridiculous.

1st TV star Matt Roloff goes all the way to Iraq to try to "save" some kids over there, and now dogs in Iraq?? When does this nonsense ever end? What ever happened to serving people and animals in your OWN country FIRST?? Let the Iraqi government save their own people & their own dogs.. They have alot of oil money.. time they stood on their own two feet.

[WarofAges]

I absolutely love dogs, and never want to see one get hurt, but people gotta realize that the military probabaly doesnt care. I mena, why would they put time and effort into saving one dog, when they are trying to win a war and save american and innocent lives.

I dont see a reason for not letting troops bring back an animal, as long as its not a freakin lion or somehting

[M@ddest_H@tter!]

I got my dog, Dakota from the local SPCA here and he's the greatest dog I've ever owned. I could see having the Army allow the unit to keep the dog as a pet would be cool, but G.O. 1B (general order) states that US troops are not allowed to adopt pets of any kind while in the AOR (area of responsibility). I wanted to adopt a Camel Spider, but the underside of my boot told me different, so my boot adopted it instead, and the concrete.........nasty little critters spiders are.

[LCMBassist]

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

+1 Sheesh, it's just a dog. There are plenty that need homes here.

The day there is 34.000 signatures on a petition to save a human life, I might sign. But this is ridiculous.

That is a foolish ideal. Life is life, be it an ant or a human. Look at the damage humans have done to our world and to all the other species on this planet, and your value of human life may very soon drop.

[JNowiski]

we got an iraqi dog at our house over here. he's almost as dumb as the iraqi people though. we got a guy that wants to take him home, even though it'll just end up eating all his S**T and pooing on everything.

[LCMBassist]

Originally Posted by JNowiski

we got an iraqi dog at our house over here. he's almost as dumb as the iraqi people though. we got a guy that wants to take him home, even though it'll just end up eating all his S**T and pooing on everything.

I'd say that was political...is that allowed? The Iraqi people aren't all dumb. You have to see what's happened from their point of view.

[JNowiski]

Originally Posted by LCMBassist

I'd say that was political...is that allowed? The Iraqi people aren't all dumb. You have to see what's happened from their point of view.

Apparentilly you don't know who i am.