© DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty ImagesThe American Humane society slammed Biden for leaving the contract dogs behind in Afghanistan.
An animal rights group slammed the Biden administration after the US military was accused of leaving its contract dogs behind in Afghanistan before pulling out of Kabul — but the military hit back, blasting the reports as "erroneous."
"I am devastated by reports that the American government is pulling out of Kabul and leaving behind brave U.S. military contract working dogs to be tortured and killed at the hand of our enemies," American Humane president and CEO Robin Ganzert said in a statement.
"These brave dogs do the same dangerous, lifesaving work as our military working dogs, and deserved a far better fate than the one to which they have been condemned."
Ganzert said her organization "has worked hand in hand with the military for more than 100 years to rescue military animals," adding that the group "brings home retired military working dogs and pairs veterans with life-saving service dogs."The animal activist then called on Congress to act. "We call on Congress to take action to classify contract working dogs on the same level as military working dogs. Failure to do anything less, is a failure of humanity and a condemnation of us all," Ganzert added.
However, a military spokesman later disputed the allegation, telling The Post that no "military working dogs" had been left behind.US Army Lt. Col. Karen Roxberry, a spokesperson for the US Central Command, said an email that the military's "priority mission was the evacuation of U.S. citizens, SIV and vulnerable Afghans."
Roxberry then blasted the reports as "erroneous."
"Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under the care of the U.S. military," she said."Despite an ongoing complicated and dangerous retrograde mission, U.S. forces went to great lengths to assist the Kabul Small Animal Rescue as much as possible," Roxberry added.
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Kabul Small Animal Rescue was founded by an American, Charlotte Maxwell-Jones, in 2018; the group helped U.S. troops bring home cats and dogs they had befriended while deployed to Afghanistan. The Taliban ordered Maxwell-Jones to leave the country after it took over earlier this month, and she scrambled to get her employees, their family members and up to 250 animals out as well, Stars and Stripes reported.
The Pentagon said that Maxwell-Jones brought the dogs to the airport in kennels and asked troops to get them on military evacuation flights.
The military denied her request because of customs prohibitions and the need to reserve all space on flights for people needing evacuation. Maxwell-Jones then tried to charter a civilian aircraft to pick the dogs up, but the plane never arrived, according to the Pentagon.
It added that troops moved the dogs from the runway to a compound that had been used by the former Afghan army. Service members then let the animals out into an enclosed area, where they remained when the final U.S. flights departed. Maxwell-Jones stayed with the dogs to try to get them onto a later flight, officials said.
Sunday afternoon, before the final U.S. departure, the animal rescue group tweeted photos of some of the dogs it was trying to help, with the hashtag #OperationHercules. The post went viral. About an hour later, the group posted on Twitter again, urging people to stop tweeting at the State Department and U.S. Central Command and saying its team was handling the situation. The group's last full tweet came Monday afternoon and urged followers to "PLEASE LET THE PROCESS WORK."
But by Tuesday, photos of the canines continued to rocket across social media, along with claims they were abandoned working dogs, prompting the Pentagon to issue a denial.
Anyway, if the dogs are neither Vegan nor Woke, the Afghans will happily adopt them. After all, this is not China ...