‘The animals Peter loved are safe’
By CATHY SCOTT
Best Friends Staff Writer
Two homeless Iraqi dogs – Mama and Boris – are now safely on American soil thanks to the efforts of a soldier’s family, a U.S. senator, and the Best Friends rapid response team.
Sgt. Peter Neesley, on his second tour of duty with the U.S. Army, began feeding a mama dog and her two puppies when he patrolled a Baghdad neighborhood. After one of the puppies was hit by a car and killed, Peter built them a red-and-white doghouse – equipped with blankets, a mattress and an Army insignia above the door. He lured the mama dog and her remaining puppy to the doghouse, which he placed just outside the military base wall.
And then he e-mailed his family, sending them photos of the black Lab mix and her white-and-brown spotted puppy, and said he’d decided to fly the dogs home when he returned to the states in six months.
“Our family has always had dogs or cats and other little critters,” says his sister, Carey Neesley. “Peter was always bringing strays home.”
But on Christmas Day, Peter, just 28, died in his sleep in his barracks (no cause of death has been released) before he could send the dogs home. His soldier friends continued to feed Mama and Boris and watch out for them.
From his phone conversations and e-mails, Peter’s family knew how much Mama and Boris meant to him. So, with the help of a network of people on the ground in Iraq and at home in America, Peter’s wish to take the dogs to his Michigan home came true. His dogs left Iraq late on February 6 and landed on U.S. soil the next morning.
To read the rest of the story about honoring a soldier's wish, go to the first story at: http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&fps=1&mode=entry&entry=FA3D3099-19B9-B9D5-9DC0160C0FBA533A
And to read the follow-up about how the dogs are doing at home: http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=news&fps=1&mode=entry&entry=0AB5737F-19B9-B9D5-9D8F9873110C75F4
Posts
Just wanted to let everyone know that my latest book, Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned, will be released July 21. I was in New Orleans for nearly four months as a first responder and writer, covering Best Friends Animal Society's rescue efforts. I followed the steps of the pets, the volunteers and the people who lost their pets. Pawprints of Katrina tells their stories. A kickoff event is scheduled for July 26 at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. More about that later, but I can tell you that Ali MacGraw, actor and animal activist who wrote the foreword, will be signing books with me. Thanks for tuning in. --Cathy
