PDSA Promote Animal Slavery

Lucca, a US. Marine Corps. German Shepard, has been awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal after losing his leg in an explosion and being forced into early retirement, after being forced into war zones for over a decade. The news report that I saw recently showed Lucca 'proudly' displaying his medal. Personally I'm not convinced that dogs feel pride, but that is besides the point here.

Lucca may have lost a leg, but at least he got a medal. That'll keep him occupied when he's rotting in a kennel.

What is more concerning is that an 'animal welfare' charity, PDSA, would promote and encourage the exploitation of animals for military purposes and thus furthering the suffering of animals. From looking at their website, it is difficult to see any mission statement other than 'help a vet help a pet', so the PDSA seems to lack any real long-term goals. 'Encouraging responsible pet ownership' doesn't quite cut it if they aren't actively discouraging the pet industry. It leads me to believe that these kind of charities are merely around to legitimize abhorrent practices such as using animals for war and promoting pet ownership for the purpose of aiding the veterinary industry.

PDSA had this to say on their website and Twitter: "Lucca has become a symbol of hope for many, meeting the public at military outreach events."

Perhaps, I'm being ignorant here, but what symbol of hope? Hope that by sending animals to their death in a foreign country will somehow protect domestic innocents? We are told that no US soldier was killed whilst Lucca was on tour, so the service dog gets to live the rest of his days out in retirement, likely in a kennel if he can't be re-homed. That's if they don't kill him.

Brus wasn't so lucky:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/540010/Military-Dogs-Destroyed-MOD


Still it's no surprise that an army would destroy an animal once it's outlived it's usefulness, they are just as bad with their humans, sacking people hours before their pensions and failing to help soldiers adjust to society. Just ask any one of the numerous ex-soldiers that end up sleeping rough on park benches in Civvie Street, who are usually bullied away by the police.