Dogs left behind by the military

Once again, CNN's Anderson Cooper has turned his attention to the suffering of animals. On Thursday, May 26, his show included a piece on dogs abandoned by soldiers heading off to war. I will paste the transcript below, which is available on line at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0505/26/acd.01.html. Please thank Cooper for the coverage. Loads of positive feedback makes it easier for animal friendly reporters to get the OK for animal friendly coverage. The show asks for comments at:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10 and sends a thank you note, assuring us that every email is read.

I thank Judith Fish and Jane Mehaffy for making sure we knew about the piece.

Here is the transcript:

VO: Soldiers off to war, leaving thousands of cats and dogs homeless. Tonight, what can be done to save the cats and dogs left behind by soldiers going off to war.


COOPER: I wish I had good news to tell you about those animals. Sadly, I do not. They are among more than 1,000 abandoned cats and dogs that are found every year in and around Ft. Stewart in Georgia, animals abandoned by their owners, U.S. soldiers heading off to Iraq. Most soldiers care for their pets, but some don't plan well enough, and when they're deployed, the pets are left behind, homeless. And they end up in shelters. And you know what that means.

CNN's Gary Tuchman investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Her name is Lady. And Lady is a mother, 15 times over. The collarless dog and her newborn pups were found abandoned in a field near the Army's Ft. Stewart. They're being treated with loving care at the Liberty County, Georgia animal shelter, blissfully ignorant of the fact they are on animal death row.

RANDY DURRENCE, ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER: Dog comes in without a collar, no markings or anything, we give them 72 hours. Then if they come in with a collar, any markings, tattoos, anything like that, they are here for seven to 10 days.

TUCHMAN (on camera): That must be very difficult for you.

DURRENCE: It is very difficult.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The shelter is jammed over capacity. In large part because the human population is so under capacity in nearby Ft. Stewart. So many soldiers have gone to Iraq that many of their pets have ended up homeless.

Before the massive deployment to Iraq, the shelter averaged 1,200 animals a year.

(on camera): And what are you on pace for this year?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably closer to 1,500 to 1,600 animals.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The animal control officers have received a call from a woman that a stray dog is hiding under her house.

Officer Linda Cordry arrives at the scene.

LINDA CORDRY, ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER: Come on, baby. Hello. Come out. It's all right. Come out. Hi. Hi. Come on. Hi. See? Come on. That's a good baby.

TUCHMAN: Officer Cordry gives the spaniel mix the name Scrappy Dappy Doo.

CORDRY: That's a good baby. Want to go with me?

We live in such a transient community that people come and go, and the last thing on their minds a lot of times is their animals.

CAPTAIN KAREN O'CONNOR, ARMY VETERINARIAN: Oh, good job.

TUCHMAN: To be sure, most of the soldiers at Ft. Stewart take good care and make proper arrangements for their pets.

Captain Karen O'Connor says her dog Taylor is like her child.

O'CONNOR: There we go. It's OK. If he flexes a little, I can see it.

TUCHMAN: Captain O'Connor is also an Army veterinarian, and as part of her duties, has to go into this room to put pets to sleep, dogs and cats who nobody has wanted to adopt from the Army shelter located inside Ft. Stewart.

O'CONNOR: It's awful. I hate doing it. You know, I spend a few minutes with each animal, try to apologize to them. I always sedate them ahead of time, so they're, you know, kind of woozy and out of it. And then we do it by injection, so they just drift off. So at least it's -- it's peaceful.

TUCHMAN (on camera): This yellow labrador retriever was scheduled to be euthanized a week and a half ago. But every week the fort newspaper has a feature called "Pet of the Week," and she was the pet of the week last week. Nevertheless, nobody has adopted her. And very sadly, these are the last few minutes of her life. She'll be put to sleep later today.

(voice-over): Dr. O'Connor does not name the pets who come in.

O'CONNOR: It's for the benefit of me and my staff emotionally.

TUCHMAN: But at the county shelter, they do. This dog was just brought in, along with her seven puppies. They were found in a dump. Three were taken by the County Humane Society and will be adopted, but the clock is ticking for the mother and her other four babies.

(on camera): Why don't we give her a name right now and let you decide?

CORDRY: Sounds good to me. How about Gigi? Gigi.

TUCHMAN: She answers to Gigi. How about that? She walks right over to you just seconds after you named her.

CORDRY: Hi, girl. Come on, Gigi.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gigi's puppies, as well as Lady's, will be given a little extra time. Puppies and kittens are not put to sleep until they are at least six weeks old. But about 75 percent of these dogs and cats will not make it.

CORDRY: Had they cared for the animal properly, they would have had her spayed or neutered before this happened.

TUCHMAN: Nobody has asked to adopt the dog we found, Scrappy Dappy Doo. So he plays in his cage, his deadline approaching.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Hinesville, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Man, so sad. Six to 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters every year. Half of them are killed, that's 3 to 4 million. If you're interested in adopting any of the military pets from the shelter featured in Gary's report, you can e-mail the Liberty County animal control at animals [at] libertycountyga.com. That's animals [at] libertycountyga.com. Of course, if you'd like to help rescue a dog or a cat near you, you can always contact your local Humane Society or SPCA.

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