When I first read about this, I thought it was a joke. Skydiving dogs? Sounds a bit like flying pigs – pull the other one! But no, sadly the army really do have plans to force German Shepherds – who love to sit adoringly by your feet, catch Frisbees and get their tummies tickled – to skydive out of planes 25,000 feet up in the air. They will touch down in war-torn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and beam back live video footage of ‘hideouts’ to troops safely out of danger.
Or at least that’s the idea. PETA sent Defence Minister Des Browne an urgent letter calling on him to drop the plans and opt for robots instead. Here are the most important (and disturbing) bits:
“Osama bin Laden sacrificed dogs for his purposes, but we never thought we would be writing to our own Minister about Britain’s use of dogs. Your plan will cause many dogs to suffer horribly, since they are likely to be tortured to “send a message” to animal-loving Britons rather than simply killed. If our adversaries can treat humans so abominably, imagine what they will do to dogs.
It is, of course, not just these animals who will suffer as a result of this wrong-headed plan. Although one report indicates that dogs are being used because dogs are “less suspicious approaching targets”, when some dogs become enemies, our adversaries will see all dogs as enemies. Your plan will surely result in the suffering of exponentially more dogs than you plan to use, as people in countries we are in conflict with will come to see every dog as a possible member of a foreign military.
It is inherently wrong to use dogs as disposable living tools in such missions. Animals claim no nation. They are in perpetual involuntary servitude to all of humankind, and although they pose no threat and own no weapons, human beings always win in the undeclared war against them. They are made of flesh, blood and bones, just as we are, and they share the same five physiological senses we have. They feel pain as acutely as we do, and they are highly intelligent and social beings with families. Dogs deserve better than this, and so does the British public. This is the 21st century – the era of robotics. If you can use drones in the air, you can use them on land.”
