Help rolls in for hungry dogs

Many answer reservist's pleas for canines working with Iraq police

By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL



A Las Vegas Army Reserve captain's plea for dog food to feed starving Iraqi police dogs received widespread response Wednesday, including that of a local sports handicapper who donated $5,000.

Citizens from as far away as New Hampshire and Florida expressed their concern and support.

The Las Vegas Valley Humane Society, a nonprofit rescue organization, spearheaded an effort to accept cash donations and explore ways to ship to a Baghdad, Iraq, police academy thousands of pounds of dry dog food donated by businesses and residents.

That's where Capt. Gabriella Cook's 313th Military Police Detachment is stationed and where Cook has sought help for 12 German shepherds and a black Labrador retriever through a series of e-mails to pet-care provider Diana Paivanas and others.

In an e-mail Wednesday, Cook told Paivanas the dogs have helped U.S. soldiers sniff out explosives in a building.

As news about the starving dogs spread Wednesday, Ruiz and Paivanas said they had received calls from concerned residents of New Hampshire, Florida, Kansas, Texas, Arizona and Idaho who wanted to help.

Late Wednesday, professional sports handicapper Wayne Allyn Root handed a $5,000 check to Judith Ruiz, president of the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society, to help the relief effort for Iraqi police dogs.

"This is a little blessing from God," Root, 43, told Ruiz as he handed her the check at his Henderson home.

"The gaming community in Las Vegas is a very generous community."

Root, chairman and chief executive officer of GWIN Inc., said he was motivated to help because his 7-year-old German shepherd, Maverick, comes from a bloodline of police dogs from Holland.

"I've had dogs for 20 years, and I love dogs," he said.

Cook had sent a Dec. 28 e-mail to the Review-Journal, stating that dog food was unavailable in Baghdad and that the explosive-sniffing and attack dogs were surviving on table scraps and garbage.

"The dogs are starving and urgently need dry dog food. Some of them have already died. Half of them are sick," she wrote.

Ruiz said she is working with airline freight companies and the Air Force to get pallets of dog food sent to Baghdad. She said she hopes some smaller quantities can be sent soon.

Paivanas said she needs a place to store the donated dog food.

Meanwhile, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., directed her chief of staff, Richard Urey, to contact an Army congressional liaison official to pin down facts on police dogs in Iraq and detail steps the Army will take to eliminate deficiencies.

Similarly, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., a veterinarian, directed a legislative assistant to contact an Army liaison to investigate.

A military spokeswoman at the Combined Press Information Center in Baghdad, Sgt. Melissa King, said officials there are still trying to gather information about the Iraqi police dogs to answer questions posed by the Review-Journal on Tuesday.

Donations to the relief effort can be made by contacting the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society on its Web site, www.lvvhumane.org; by fax at 435-9518; or by mail at 2250 E. Tropicana Ave., Suite 19, Las Vegas, NV 89119.



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