8,400 Dogs Killed In Basra In Two Months
No, Iraq is not often like America. When Americans have a hard time understanding why civil and military progress takes so long, it’s because they don’t understand how much of a third world country Iraq actually is. There really are no true, western-style urban centers - a big city there is never much more than an overgrown town. There is little electricity, and mounds of trash line just about every block you traverse. Complex technological and communication infrastructure, basic resources and supplies, are all at a premium. Computers are not ubiquitous. These issues weigh down progress as much as infighting and corruption. Everything just takes longer, and is nowhere near as organized as it is in the west. Databases? Hah!
And one of the great symbols of the often primitive state of the country ( along with the many donkey carts and bedouin tents ) is the seemingly infinite supply of packs of wild dogs that roam the outskirts of every city, and across the countryside. If you’ve been there you know what I’m talking about. We’ve all woken up to the ungodly, demonic yelps and wails of gangs of these hellish creatures, sounding unlike anything we’ve ever heard from dogs in America. I began to imagine that they bred with ghosts of the dead that roam the night.
This story from Basra reflects the situation, and another of the country’s attempts to move into the modern age:
Basra, Aug 28, (VOI) – A new campaign to eliminate stray dogs from Basra has already started in association with the veterinary department and the municipality, the chief of the health awareness authority of Basra said.
“The campaign, which involves removing the dogs to be eliminated, will be carried our by 13 teams for a month, giving dogs poisoned pills from 05:00 p.m. to 08:00 p.m.,” Qusai Abdul-Latif told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Dr. Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, the director of the veterinary hospital in Basra, told VOI, “more than 8,400 stray dogs were eliminated during campaigns over the past couple of months. The new one will cover all areas of Basra.”
Abdul-Mahdi called on the organizations concerned and the people of Basra to help in the campaign, in order to “eradicate these stray dogs, the main cause of rabies that has inflicted a number of citizens in the province.”
A source from the health department of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, had told VOI that two people out of three diagnosed with rabies had died.
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalities (inflammation of the brain) in mammals. In non-vaccinated humans rabies is almost invariably fatal after neurological symptoms have developed, but prompt post-exposure vaccination may prevent the virus from progressing. There are only six known cases of a person surviving rabies after the onset of such symptoms.
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Watch out!! Here comes PETA!!! Those fanatics will come out in droves on this story.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:47 amOh Shit! Wait untill PETA reads this.
September 4th, 2007 at 5:20 amMichael Vick has begun his community service.
September 4th, 2007 at 6:01 amSend PETA over there to deal with them. Then pull the troops back and we’ll see if PETA and the insurgency can cut a deal (or a few heads).
September 4th, 2007 at 6:13 amAhahhaha, i couldnt even begin to count how many dogs we had to pop when we were in fallujah. They are so damn aggresive. I guess it was from all the gear, because when we took it all off they were fine with us. Not all the dogs are bad though, we adopted a few, and they had a hardcore hatred for iraqis, hahahaha
September 4th, 2007 at 7:04 amThe dogs in Iraq are more closely related to Wolves than the dogs we have in America. But there are some good stories regarding them.
Check out “From Baghdad With Love” by Lt. Col David Koppelman for the story of how he rescued Lava from Iraq. Heck, Pat may even know him and Lava as he served with the Marines Pat was embedded with.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:54 amABC: “George Bush Is Killing Dogs”
CBS: “The Bush Administration Has Declared War On Iraqi Dogs”
NBC: “Congress Is Calling For An Investigation Into The Murder Of Iraqi Dogs By US Military”
MSNBC (Keith Olberdoby): “The Blood Of Iraqi Dogs Is On Bush’s Hands!”
CNN: “Under Orders From The Bush Administration, The US Military Has Begun Genocide On Gay Iraqi Dogs …”
NYTimes: “Haliburton Behind The Manufacturing Of The Poison Pills Used On Iraqi Dogs”
September 4th, 2007 at 9:01 amMy son told me they run wild in Camp Victory. He described them as pretty viscous. He had to cut off a call with me recently, they found him outside at night on the phone by himself. Nasty mouth full of teeth, he thinks they seem to be bred with some kind of wild dog. Matches the cat sized rats they have over there.
I recall he had to ask permission to wack some dogs while stationed in the ’stan. They had to run PT with a side arm to keep the dogs off of them there.
September 4th, 2007 at 9:04 amIn Islam dogs are considered dirty animals. Hadiths are filled with not very kind words for man’s best friend. http://members.aol.com/MuttaqunOL/dogs.html Except in more progressive portions of the Middle East dogs are outcasts and roam the streets as scavengers evading the rock throwing masses.
September 4th, 2007 at 9:08 amSteve, ROFLMAO!!
DrillANwar, no shit, those headlines will be out over the next few weeks… I’d go over there for the taget practice, if they would supply the .243 ammo… almost like sitting in a soybean field picking off woodchucks. Eliminating more vermin, only the four legged kind
September 4th, 2007 at 10:52 amAnybody ever notice the packs of wild dogs roaming around the woods of Ft. Benning?
September 4th, 2007 at 11:36 amI can hardly wait for the movie….
September 4th, 2007 at 12:12 pmGreat headlines, drillanwr. ROFLMAO
September 4th, 2007 at 1:59 pmRanger,
September 4th, 2007 at 3:15 pmyeah we have them at Ft. Bragg too!!!
Steve;
If they’re “viscous” they must be REALLY thick on the ground! I bet they’re vicious, too!
But I betcha there isn’t much trouble with stray cats!
The description of the teeth suggests a label for the new breed: “Iraqi tearier”.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:14 pmKipp said “In Islam dogs are considered dirty animals. Hadiths are filled with not very kind words for man’s best friend. http://members.aol.com/MuttaqunOL/dogs.html Except in more progressive portions of the Middle East dogs are outcasts and roam the streets as scavengers evading the rock throwing masses.”
thats why, along with pigs, these animals are compared to jews and anyother unbeliever.
I think this is one Job we can leave to the terrorists, they love a good execution.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:03 amI feel so incredibly sad for those dogs. For the people joking around about how this is a Peta issue and how you would just love to get the chance to shoot the dogs, I feel sorry for you as well. It would be a very sad existence to not be able to have any empathy for others that are weaker than yourself. That shows a lot about your character. These dogs are innocent victims of this war.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:11 pm