Military animal

Monuments for military animals in Ottawa.

Military animals are domesticated animals that are used in warfare and other combat related activities. As working animals, military animals serve a variety of functions. Dogs, pigs, oxen, camels, horses and other animals are sometimes used for transportation and bomb detection. Elephants, pigeons and rats are also used during wartime, while dolphins, and sea lions are in active use.[1]

A U.S. Navy dog handler at the War Dog Memorial in the National War Dog Cemetery at Naval Base Guam. The cemetery honors the dogsmostly Doberman Pinschersthat were killed in service with the United States Marine Corps during the Second Battle of Guam in 1944.

For transport and hauling

Photo released on November 12, 2001 claiming to show "the first American cavalry charge of the 21st century"[2] in league with Northern Alliance forces in the Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif.[3]

As weapons

As fighters or mounts

A dog employed by the Sanitary Corps during World War I to locate wounded soldiers. It is fitted with a gas mask.

Dogs were used by the ancient Greeks for war purposes, and they were undoubtedly used much earlier in history. During their conquest of Latin America, Spanish conquistadors used Mastiffs to kill warriors in the Caribbean, Mexico and Peru. Mastiffs, as well as Great Danes, were used in England during the Middle Ages, where their large size was used to scare horses to throw off their riders or to pounce on knights on horseback, disabling them until their master delivered the final blow. More recently, canines with explosives strapped to their backs saw use during World War II in the Soviet Army as anti-tank weapons. In all armies, they were used for detecting mines. They were trained to spot trip wires, as well as mines and other booby traps. They were also employed for sentry duty, and to spot snipers or hidden enemy forces. Some dogs also saw use as messengers.

Dürer's Rhinoceros, a fanciful 'armoured' depiction.

As living bombs

To conceal explosive devices

In communications

See also: War pigeon

Homing pigeons have seen use since medieval times for carrying messages. They were still employed for a similar purpose during World War I and World War II. In World War II, experiments were also performed in the use of the pigeon for guiding missiles, known as Project Pigeon. The pigeon was placed inside so that they could see out through a window. They were trained to peck at controls to the left or right, depending on the location of a target shape.

For morale

There is a long-standing tradition of military mascots – animals associated with military units that act as emblems, pets or take part in ceremonies.

For espionage

In the years before the First World War pigeon photography was introduced to military intelligence gathering. Although employed during major battles like at Verdun and Somme, the method was not particularly successful. Various attempts in this direction were made during the Second World War as well. A CIA pigeon camera dating from the 1970s is displayed in the CIA Museum; details of CIA missions using this camera are still classified.[13]

The Acoustic Kitty was a CIA project to use surgically modified cats to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies in the 1960s. Despite expenditure of around $10 million, the project failed to produce practical results and was cancelled in 1967. Documents about the project were declassified in 2001.[14][15]

In 2006, The Independent ran a story that the "Pentagon develops brain implants to turn sharks into military spies".[16][17]

In 2007 Iranian authorities captured 14 squirrels, which were allegedly carrying spying equipment. The story was widely dismissed in the West as "nuts".[18]

A number of spying scares in the Middle East involved birds. According to Israeli ornithologist Yossi Leshem, Sudanese authorities detained an Egyptian vulture in the late 1970s, and a white pelican in the early 1980s, both carrying Israeli equipment used for animal migration tracking. A more mediatized event was the 2011 capture by a Saudi farmer of a griffon vulture, which was eventually released by the Saudi authorities after they determined that the Israeli equipment it carried was used for scientific purposes. This was followed by international mockery and criticism of the Arab media outlets which uncritically had reported on the bird's alleged role in espionage.[19] In 2012, a dead European bee-eater tagged with an Israeli leg band was found by villagers near the south-eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep. The villagers worried that the bird may have carried a micro-chip from Israeli intelligence to spy on the area. Turkish authorities examined the corpse of the bee-eater and assured villagers that it is common to equip migratory birds with rings in order to track their movements.[20]

Other specialized functions

Beginning during the Cold War, research has been done into the uses of many species of marine mammals for military purposes. The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program uses military dolphins and sea lions for underwater sentry duty, mine clearance, and object recovery.

Pictured with a reel of communication wire, Sergeant Reckless was a highly decorated US Marine Corps artillery horse in the Korean War.

On land, giant pouched rats such as the Gambian giant pouched rat have been tested with considerable success as specialised mine detecting animals, as their keen sense of smell helps in the identification of explosives and their small size prevents them from triggering land mines.[21][22][23]

Cats were used in the Royal Navy to control vermin on board ships. Able seacat Simon of HMS Amethyst received the Dickin Medal.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Nationalist pilots attached fragile supplies to live turkeys, which descended flapping their wings, thus serving as parachutes which could also be eaten by the defenders of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Cabeza.[24]

Chickens were used during the Gulf Wars to detect poisonous gases in an operation called Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC); the designation of the US Marines for chickens used in this role was Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices.[25] The plan was put on hold after 41 of 43 chicken used for such purposes died within a week of arrival in Kuwait.[26] During the First Gulf War, the Weekly World News published a fictional account how such a chicken was awarded a medal after saving a French general's life.[27]

Furthermore, use of military chickens was proposed in the British Blue Peacock project. The scheme involved burying nuclear bombs in the ground for later detonation should occupied (West) Germany be overrun by Warsaw Pact forces. The primitive electronic devices of the 1950s were unreliable in frozen ground, and the chickens were considered as a source of biogenic heat. This story has often been reported as an April Fool's joke, but when it was declassified and proven to be a true story on 1 April 2004 (April Fool's Day), the head of education and interpretation at the UK National Archives said, "It does seem like an April Fool but it most certainly is not. The Civil Service does not do jokes."[28]

Notable examples

Alleged military use of animals

During the British occupation of Basra, rumours of "man-eating badgers" emerged from the local population, including allegations that these beasts were released by the British troops, something that the British strenuously denied.[31][32][33] The event received coverage in the Western press during the 2007 silly season.[34]

See also

References

  1. "Marine Mammal Program". Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  2. Rumsfeld, Donald. "Annual Report to the President and the Congress", 2002
  3. Independent Online, US, Taliban both claim success in offensives, November 8, 2001
  4. "BBC NEWS - Asia-Pacific - War veteran elephant dies". BBC News. 26 February 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  5. Geist, Valerius (1998). Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour, and Ecology. United States of America: Stackpole Books. pp. 241–242. ISBN 0811704963.
  6. Pliny, (VIII, 1.27)
  7. Aelian, de Natura Animalium book XVI, ch. 36
  8. Suggested by Glynis Ridley (2004), Clara's Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-century Europe, Atlantic Monthly Press, ISBN 1-84354-010-X, a study of Clara the rhinoceros; however, there is no mention of this in Bedini.
  9. Jones, Dan. The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England (William Collins, 2012). ISBN 978-0-00-721392-4
  10. "Israel Moves Deep Into Gaza". CBS News. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  11. "Dish Network Deals - Dish TV Specials - Vgernet". Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  12. British Special Operations Executive (SOE): Tools and Gadgets Gallery. BBC. Retrieved June 7, 2005.
  13. "Aerial Reconnaissance". Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  14. Ciar Byrne (11 September 2001). "Project: Acoustic Kitty". the Guardian (London). Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  15. "Top 5 Crazy Government Experiments". HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  16. Connor, Steve (2 March 2006). "Pentagon develops brain implants to turn sharks into military spies". The Independent (London). Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  17. "BBC NEWS - Americas - US 'plans stealth shark spies'". BBC News. 2 March 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  18. "Iranian Police Smash Squirrel Spy Ring". Sky News. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  19. Vulture Saudis Nabbed Was Third Israeli Bird Held Since 1975, Science News
  20. Turkey villagers see Israeli spy in migratory bird BBC, May 16, 2012.
  21. Wood, Ian (18 December 2007). "Rats being used to sniff out land mines". London: Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  22. Giant rats sniff out Mozambique's mines. IOL (29 January 2009).
  23. "Bitcoin Donations Can Now Fund Mine-Detecting 'Super Rats'". CoinDesk. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  24. Antony Beevor, "The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939", (Penguin Books, 1982.)
  25. "The Chicken Defense". TIME.com. 18 February 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  26. Murphy, Verity (11 March 2003). "BBC NEWS - Middle East - Let slip the sea lions of war". BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  27. France's fightin' fowl: War chicken awarded medal for bravery!. Weekly World News. 23 April 1991. p. 33. ISSN 0199-574X.
  28. "Cold war bomb warmed by chickens". BBC News. 2004-04-01. Retrieved 2013-11-29.
  29. "He rode a remarkable horse, too, with feet that were almost human; for its hoofs were cloven in such a way as to look like toes. This horse was foaled on his own place, and since the soothsayers had declared that it foretold the rule of the world for its master, he reared it with the greatest care, and was the first to mount it, for it would endure no other rider. Afterwards, too, he dedicated a statue of it before the temple of Venus Genetrix." Suetonius, The Life of Julius Caesar 61, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html
  30. "The Wellington Statue, Aldershot". .hants.gov.uk. 2012-05-23. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  31. Philp, Catherine (2007-07-12), Bombs, guns, gangs – now Basra falls prey to the monster badger, The Times
  32. Baker, Graeme (2007-07-13), British troops blamed for badger plague The Telegraph
  33. BBC News (2007-07-12) British blamed for Basra badgers, BBC
  34. Weaver, Matthew (2007-07-12), "Basra badger rumour mill", The Guardian

Further reading

External links

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