There’s animal cruelty and exploitation and then there’s animal cruelty and exploitation which I find particularly egregious and unacceptable. One example is using animals in war. A lot of patriotic nonsense is written about dogs in war. But here’s the reality, as reported recently in The Guardian. I added emphasis in order to make the point that my position is I prefer neither soldiers nor dogs to be killed. The dogs in this combat situation are blatantly expendable.

UK special forces in Afghanistan are parachuting German shepherd dogs with video cameras into Taliban strongholds to search buildings for insurgents, with at least eight animals killed during operations. The dogs are strapped to the chest of their handlers for the drops, and cameras are attached to their heads to feed back images of buildings and surrounding areas. The tactics have been adapted from US special forces, but the Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on a report on operations by SAS troops. The dogs are reportedly trained to attack armed people, and eight of them have died in action so far. “But that would be eight SAS men,” a source told the Times.

Go here for more and a photo of soldier and dog parachuting to earth.