An abandoned, tortured puppy has traded the mean streets of Afghanistan for the relative safety of London after it was rescued by a Royal Marine.
Commando Alex Mutch was moved to act on behalf of the tattered stray after finding him in the village of Sangin with his ears and tail cut off. He was able to trade a packet of flares with a local for the dog (now named Dave) and whisked him back to base, where he set about coordinating a rescue mission. Â
“I was on a police mentoring team in Sangin and they brought the dog in one day looking all skinny with no tail and no ears and the guys were kicking and shouting at him. I thought I’ve got to get him away from this so I swapped him for a packet of flares. He was really vicious first of all because he was used to being mistreated. But after a couple of days he was all right,” said Mutch.
Mutch told his sister, Heather, that the dog would not likely survive if he left Afghanistan. Heather set up a charity and quickly raised more than £4,000 before enlisting the help of rescue group Nowzad, which specializes in saving strays and abandoned animals in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thanks to their combined efforts, Dave was flown to Britain last month, and is staying with Heather while her brother finishes training in Plymouth. In a statement to local reporters, she said: “Dave gets some strange looks when he goes out because he has no ears. It’s likely that they were cut off with a knife to be used for fighting. He’s a very loyal dog but when Alex is here he doesn’t want to know me. He knows Alex saved him.”
This just breaks my heart….the depravity of humans never ceases to amaze me!!!!!
Commando Alex Mutch is a very special man with a huge heart. I am so glad that Dave is safe and far away from the twisted inhumane treatment. Hopefully he will now live a more peaceful life.
It is so sad how dogs are treated in these eastern countries. It just tears at my heart.
What can you expect – local militant groups and suicide bombers are a lot worse to other humans – using bombs with shrapnel to cause as many injuries as possible – animals are nothing to them!
OH MY GOSH…..poor thing. Glad he was saved…!!!
So glad the Royal Marine saved this poor puppy! God Bless them both!
I’m with Brenda!!! Thank God that puppy is OK…:)
i can’t bear to think how many AREN’T fortunate enough to be saved.
It is sad to hear about such animal abuse, in a country where women are also abused and forced to submit to a veil from head to toe, making them look like shadow human beings, one can expect that a minor stray puppy would also be tortured. Thanks to Alex Mutch and his golden heart, there is one less miserable soul in the world. All living beings deserve love and respect, no matter how small. When will we learn?
Most of us already know this – to certain other cultures – it’s NEWS!
So happy this marine took the time to do the right thing for this dog. Thanks!