http://www.theindychannel.com/news/4050736/detail.html

Soldier Begging For Dog Food For Deployed Dogs
Commander Says Dogs Live Off Scraps And Garbage
POSTED: 2:58 pm EST January 5, 2005
LAS VEGAS -- The commander of an Army Reserve detachment is begging friends
back home to send food for Iraqi police dogs.

AP Image
U.S. Air Force working dog and handler check for explosives among boxes of
mail received at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq

"The dogs are starving and urgently need dry dog food," Capt. Gabriella
Cook, commander of the Las Vegas-based 313th Military Police Detachment,
said in a Dec. 28 e-mail reported Wednesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"Some of them have already died," Cook wrote. "Half of them are sick. We
have no way of buying actual dog food here."
Cook's unit arrived last month in the Iraq capital. She said 12 German
shepherds and one black Labrador retriever trained for bomb-detection and
attack at the Iraqi Police Academy in Baghdad have been eating table scraps
and garbage.
"It seems like an emergency situation," Diana Paivanas, a Henderson pet-care
provider and Cook's friend, told the Review-Journal. "Something needs to be
done now to save these dogs."
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., a veterinarian, directed a legislative aide to
contact an Army liaison to investigate, a spokesman for the senator said.
Military officials at the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad did
not immediately respond to the newspaper's request for information about the
food supply for U.S. canines in Iraq.

AP Image
U.S. Air Force military working dog during handler protection exercise,
Tallil Air Base, Iraq

Paivanas said she found it costs about $50 to mail a 30-pound bag of dog
food to Cook.
Henderson Veterinarian Terry Muratore estimated that each of the 13 working
dogs would consume a 40 pounds or more of dry food per month.
"If securing the country entails having security dogs that are healthy, then
we should do that," Muratore said. "Surely there's space on a C-130 to get a
pallet of dog food over there."
If you would like to help feed the dogs, you may send checks to the Las
Vegas Valley Humane Society. They are working with several companies to ship
food to the animals as soon as possible.
"PetSmart has donated a pallet of food, and we hope PetCo will do the same,"
Judith Ruiz, president of the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society said.
Ruiz said several companies have donated food and that with the money, the
non-profit Humane Society will be able to buy more dog food at a discounted
rate and will also pay for shipping to Iraq.
"All funds will go directly for the animals," Ruiz said.
The Humane Society is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization. So your
donation will be tax deductible.
Send donations to:
Las Vegas Valley Humane Society
Funds For Dogs In Iraq
2250 E. Tropicana Road
Suite 19
Las Vegas, NV
89119
Make checks payable to the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society. Please indicate
in a letter or on the check that you want your donation to go to the dogs in
Iraq.

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