Non-human animals in war

2010s

The Military Working Dog Teams National Monument, San Antonio, Texas, USA, unveiled on 28 October 2013

The monument includes "a water fountain [.] for visiting dogs [...]. The Not Forgotten Fountain, built to the side of the larger monument, features a soldier pouring water into his helmet, a common way of providing water to dogs in the field. The inscription for the fountain reads: "In everlasting memory of all the heroic war dogs who served, died, and were left behind in the Vietnam War." [5]

1970s

Left: Siem Reap, Cambodia, 1974 [Cambodian Civil War]

Right: Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1978 (?) [Khmer Rouge Regime and Cambodian genocide]

The Dhofar War was a conflict that took place in Oman from 1963 to 1976, primarily in the southern province of Dhofar. It lasted more than 12 years and more than 2,000 humans were killed.
The war was between the wicked ruler Sultan Said bin Taimur, who was supported by BFF the United Kingdom and Iran (as well as Jordan and the United Arab Emirates), and on the other side, a rebel group called Dhofar Liberation Front (DLF) first and Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG) later. The latter were supported by, surprise, the Soviet Union, China, and South Yemen. The wicked ruled was overthrown by his son Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said in 1970, who abolished slavery in Oman (in 1970).

The pictures below were taken by a British vet (as in veterinarian).

Oman, 1974 [Dhofar War]

"A dying horse is put out of its [his] misery with a single shot from a 9mm Browning pistol." A picture of the author of the book shooting the horse. This was a castrated horse ("gelding"), transported from Muscat to Raysut (Dhofar province), " when unloaded at Raysut the gelding had slipped and had been intermittently lame ever since. With rest, the lameness had improved, but now he was obviously in pain and distress and was reluctant to put any weight on his left hind leg. If he did take a few steps, the leg was extended and abnormally turned out and he dragged his toe in the sand. Something was seriously wrong in his stifle, the joint that corresponds to the human knee, and he did not like me feeling the joint. I reckoned the patella, or kneecap, had become fixed out of alignment. [...] Sadly, the poor horse lasted less than a week. It was getting thinner and was in increasing pain. I shot it with my Browning. A post mortem examination of the knee showed severely torn ligaments, [...]. I have a strong emotional tie to horses and never find it easy to kill them." [1x]

Oman, 1974 [Dhofar War]

"A donkey in Salalah [the capital of Dhofar province, Oman] that had just been bitten by an unknown poisonous snake. You can see the swelling at its brisket." [1x]

By "brisket", he means the chest, in front of where the front legs meet. Is it a coincidence that both butchers and veterinarians use this term?

They treated the donkey with antiserum (antivenom for the snake bite). The donkey was pregnant but the shock (from the bite or the treatment?) caused an abortion.

1940s (post Second World War)

"On July 1, 1946, the US Navy would detonate the first of sixty-seven atomic (and eventually hydrogen) bombs in the Marshall Islands, most of them in the Bikini Atoll. For the first bomb, the navy anchored the USS Burleson, nicknamed Noah’s Ark, in Bikini Atoll. Aboard were 146 pigs, 176 goats, fifty-seven guinea pigs, and 3,139 rats and mice. The plan was to learn how the radiation released from the bomb’s explosion would affect living creatures. Animal lovers around the world protested the use of animals in this experiment, and public uproar forced the military to reject its original plan to include dogs. William H. P. Blandy, the American admiral in charge of the program, said, “We regret that some of these animals may be sacriced. ... The Army and Navy simply can’t be starry-eyed about this phase of the experiment.” Before detonating the first bomb (code name Able), each animal had been tattooed with an identication number because the explosion was likely to blow off tags or other identication markers. Some goats were shaved to see if the radiation would affect military personnel with buzz cuts. Other goats were covered with sunblock, and several pigs were dressed in navy uniforms to see if lotions or cloth offered protection against radiation. Sailors placed the animals aboard several damaged and useless ships that the navy had towed to the area and anchored in the Bikini lagoon. They waited to see what would happen when the atomic bomb exploded.

A military press release said of the event, “It is not the intention to kill a large portion of the animals since dead animals are of less value for study. We want radiation-sick animals, but not radiation-dead animals.” That was not the outcome, however. About 10 percent of the animals died instantly during the explosion. Almost all the others died within a few months of the explosion from radiation-related illnesses. On July 15, just two weeks after the rst test, newspaper headlines screamed, “A report that Bikini test animals have begun ‘dying like flies’ came today from the USS Burleson, highly-secret animal ship from which reporters have been barred.”" [5]

1940s (Second World War)

London (England), 1940

"Rescue of a puppy during the Blitz, South London, 1940. The barks of the little dog trapped with his master enabled rescue crews to locate them and release them from the wreckage eighteen hours later." [2]

From the same book:

France, 1944

"A sergeant of the [British] Royal Army Veterinary Corps bandages the wounded ear of Jasper, a mine-detecting dog, Bayeux, Normandy, France, 5 July 1944." [2]

The same book also includes a "Canine Defence League poster stating that dogs were welcome in that particular air raid shelter" [2]. The poster reads: "Dog-Owners ! You are not allowed to take your dog into a Public Air Raid Shelter- But BOTH YOU AND YOUR CANINE FRIEND ARE WELCOME HERE WHEN A WARNING IS GIVEN [...] THE NATIONAL CANINE DEFENCE LEAGUE [...]" [2].
That same book also features a photo of this manual: "War-time Aids for all Animal Owners (1939) offered hints for the care of animals in wartime and urged owners to think twice before having pets put to sleep.";

and this cat: "A NARPAC Animal Guard passing a rescued cat out of the window of a blitzed building, 1940.";
and this dog: "National Air Raid Precautions Animal Committee volunteers carry an Airedale, injured during an air raid, into an animal first aid post, London 1940."
as well as this dog: "Leading Aircraftman Frank Williams grooming Judy in preparation for her trip to London to receive the Dickin Medal in August 1946. She was the only dog to be registered as a prisoner of war during the Second World War" [2]

All of these photos are from London (I think), during World War II.

Burial of a WWII "goat mascot" Ilford, England, [~1947 or some time later]

The name and title of this goat was "ex-Flight Sergeant Lewis". He was the Royal Air Force (RAF), United Kingdom. "A group of men from the PDSA [People's Dispensary for Sick Animals] in white coats, are gravely carrying the coffin, followed by [...] RAF top brass carrying wreaths [...]" [4].

"[..] beginning in 1930, soldiers in the Soviet army trained large dogs - uually German shepherds - to carry bombs to enemy tanks. These experimental antitank dog units officially became part of the Soviet army in 1935. Initially, the plan was for the dogs to leave their bombs at the targets - intended to be German tanks - and to retreat until a timer set off the explosives. But often the dogs got confused and ran back to their own side. They dropped the bombs, whose explosions killed Soviet soldiers instead of enemy soldiers. So the Soviet military developed a new plan in which the dogs would not be required to drop the bombs. Instead, the bombs would go off when the dog reached the tank, and the dogs as well as the enemy would die in the explosions.

How do you train a dog to deliver a bomb? The Soviets kept the dogs in cages in a state of perpetual hunger. Trainers placed food under Soviet tanks and then released the caged dogs to get the food. The dogs learned to associate food with the underside of tanks. In the next stage of training, trainers turned the tank motors on and left them idling while the dogs got their food. Lastly, soldiers fired weapons around the dogs as they ran toward the food. In this way, the dogs became used to battlefield conditions.

Once training was completed, the Soviets fitted large dogs with backpacks, complete with 22 to 26 pounds (10 to 12 kg) of explosives - enough to blow up or badly damage a tank. A wooden lever extended from each backpack so that when a dog dived under the enemy tank to seek food, the lever struck the bottom of the tank and detonated the charge (and the dog).

The plan didn’t work as well as the Soviets had hoped. During World War II, the Germans used a different fuel in their tanks than did the Soviets, and the unfamiliar odor sometimes confused the dogs. Many ran back to their handlers instead of going under the German tanks. The wooden lever would brush against a friendly person or object, setting off the explosives. The dog experiments apparently greatly demoralized the Soviet soldiers, and after 1942, the Soviets seldom used the animals to set off explosives." [5]

1910s (First World War)

Egypt, 1914: "Kangaroo mascot in Egypt"

"[.] as can be seen from the opposite photograph, under the shadow of the Egyptian pyramids, some Australian units, such as the 9th and 10th Battalions, Australian Infantry, at the Mena camp in Egypt, in December 1914, liked to take their mascots with them. Fortunately for the kangaroo, there wouldn’t have been too much difference between the heat of an Egyptian desert and the dry and arid conditions it was used to back home." [3]

The book also includes photos of other non-human animal war "mascots", "carrier pigeons" carrying cameras, a "Messenger Dog carrying telephone line", and a very happy German prisoner of war in England with a pet rabbit, ... (all from the World War I era). 

Salonika (now Thessaloniki, Greece),~1916 (World War I)

"[...] Tiny the donkey, found dying by the roadside in Salonika, is clearly enjoying herself drinking tea with the 26th Divisional Train [Army Service Corps, British Army]. She subsequently became their mascot." [4]

Germany, 1916

"During World War I, soldiers [...] and military animals alike wore gas masks as a safeguard against the [poison gas]. This photo of German soldiers and their mule dates to 1916." [5]

1900s (Boer War)

Horse Memorial, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, erected in 1905

"Port Elizabeth, South Africa: the memorial to the 326,073 horses who died in the Boer War [1899-1902], and to all animals who have perished through human conflicts." [4] The latter statement is not really correct.

The author writes: "Most animals who died have no memorial. Sick, wounded, starved, slaughtered, they have perished as though they had never been. The only way we can repay them is to treat them with more kindness in peace, and hope that in the future they are drawn as little as possible into our wars. Surely their best memorial was provided by the South Africans after the Boer War. A beautiful statue, it stands in Port Elizabeth, and shows a kneeling soldier giving water to his horse. Underneath are the words: ‘The greatness of a nation consists not so much in the numbers of its people, or the extent of its territory – as in the extent and justice of its compassion.’" [4]

The full inscription reads:
"

THE GREATNESS OF A NATION
CONSISTS NOT SO MUCH IN THE NUMBER OF ITS PEOPLE
OR THE EXTENT OF ITS TERRITORY
AS IN THE EXTENT AND JUSTICE OF ITS COMPASSION

ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION
IN RECOGNITION OF THE SERVICES OF THE GALLANT ANIMALS
WHICH PERISHED IN THE ANGLO BOER WAR 1899–1902
"
The Horse Memorial was erected in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and unveiled on 11 February 1905. This memorial features a life-sized bronze statue of a horse with a kneeling soldier offering water from a bucket. The statue was originally located near St. George's Park (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) but was moved to its present position on Cape Road in the 1950s.

There is another, more recent memorial dedicated to animals in war, the Horse Memorial at Weston Agricultural College in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), which was unveiled on 31 May 2009. This memorial states: 

"[...]

THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO ANIMALS THAT PERISH SERVING MEN IN WAR, SPECIFICALLY THE HORSES THAT PERISHED DURING THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR OF 1899 TO 1902

[...]"

Also see the "Animals in War" memorial in Hyde Park (London, England) here.

References

1) Andrew Higgins: With the S.A.S. and Other Animals, a Vet's Experiences during the Dhofar War 1974, [Barnsley,] Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, 2011

2) Neil R. Storey: Animals in the Second World War, Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021

3) Stephen Wynn, Tanya Wynn: Animals in the Great War, [Barnsley,] Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. 2019

4) Jilly Copper: Animals in War, London: Corgi Books, 1983 [2000]

5) Connie Goldsmith: Animals Go to War: From Dogs to Dolphins. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Centruy Books, 2019