Their stories are part of our history

Our animal friends have been with us for thousands of years, and their history is intertwined with ours.  While we cannot even begin to scratch the surface, we would like to share these five stories with you.

Laika:  Laika (“Barker” in Russian) became the first animal to orbit the earth while traveling aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957, just one month after Sputnik 1, starting the space age.  A small female mutt, Laika, was a stray before being captured and trained. I remember, as a kid, how the Soviet’s story was Laika survived for about a week but later revealed in 2002 that she died shortly after launch. While tragic, her journey helped pave the way for future flights.  In August of 1960, the Soviet launched two more dogs, Belka and Strelka, who became the first two animals to survive after circling the Earth.  The success of Yuri Gagarin being the first human in space in 1961 and the success of the United States programs of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo all started with this beautiful dog.

Elsa the Lioness:  After being orphaned when they were only a few days old, Elsa along with her two sisters “Big One” and “Lustica” were adopted by game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy.  While her two sisters were eventually sent to a zoo in the Netherlands, Elsa was eventually released back into the wild after being trained to survive on her own.  In 1960, Joy wrote the non-fiction book, Born Free, later made into a movie about her experience with Elsa in which she was determined to give Elsa the education she needed to hunt and live on her own in the wild. When Elsa was three years old, she brought three cubs to show the Adamsons but shortly afterwards Elsa became ill with a form of malaria that infects the cat family.  Elsa’s grave is located in the Meru National Park.

The book and film about this beautiful animal are generally credited for bringing wildlife conservation to the forefront with the public.

Balto and Togo:  In the winter of 1925, an outbreak of highly contagious deadly disease diphtheria broke out in Nome, Alaska. Six children had died with 20 more infected. Without a fresh batch of antitoxin, the disease could potentially claim the entire population of 10,000.  This was before air travel and the only way to transport the serum was to use a relay team of sled dogs traveling 674 miles thru blizzard conditions under -50 degrees or colder and winds up 70 to 80 miles an hour from Nome to Fairbanks and back.

The two most famous of these were the lead dogs Balto & Togo. Balto initially received the most credit even though the other lead dog, Fox, was not mentioned by the press as it was thought to be too confusing. Balto’s team finished the last 55-mile leg.  Balto would go on to receive a statue in New York’s Central Park and later would go on tour promoting a film that came out at the time. Disney would later make an animated movie loosely based on him.

His accomplishments, along with all of the other teams and their handlers, were the stuff that makes up heroes. The lead dog is the most important as depending on the number of dogs they could be 20 – 40 feet in front of their handler.  Many dogs perished during incredible feat and while no handlers died, several succumbed to frostbite. Balto’s handler suffered frostbite to his fingers after his sled was knocked over by high winds and he had to dig in the snow with his bare hands to find a bundle with serum in it.

The true standout was a 12-year-old lead dog named Togo. He led the team thru the longest, most difficult portion of the route, out and back, for a total of 261 miles.  His handler failed to get the message to hold up due to blizzard conditions and pressed on with Togo leading the way. Despite Balto receiving the most recognition his handler (who happened to own both dogs) never complained. Later the full story would come out and Togo would receive his own statue in New York’s Seward Park.

Cher Ami:  Carrier pigeons have long played an invaluable role in war as military messengers and later as photographers.  During World War I and II, carrier pigeons were used to communicate important messages over long distances. This was done by attaching small cannisters to the birds.  It was October 1918 and, despite being wounded by enemy gunfire, delivered a message to U.S. forces informing them of the “Lost Battalion” of the 77^th Infantry Division which was surrounded by enemy troops.  Even though the Germans shot and hit Cher Ami, he still managed to return home to his coup and deliver the message sent by the commanding officer regarding their location. The Lost Battalion was saved and Cher Ami (Dear Friend) was awarded the “Croix de Guerre” by the French Government.

After he passed away in June of 1919, the famous bird is now enshrined in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

Smoky:  Smoky was a Yorkshire Terrier who was found by an American soldier in an abandoned foxhole in the jungle in New Guinea. For the next two years, Smoky back-packed through the rest of the war with his new owner, William Wynne. Throughout her service, Smoky served in the South Pacific with the 5^th Air Force, 26^th Photo Reconnaissance Squadron and flew along for rescues and photo missions. She was credited with twelve combat missions and awarded eight battle stars. Surviving 150 air raids, Smoky even parachuted from 30 feet with a parachute made just for her.

She became a hero by helping engineers to build an airbase. The Signal Corps needed to run a wire through a 70-foot-long pipe. By tying a string to her collar, she crawled thru the tunnel saving our troops from what would have been a dangerous three-day task to completion in minutes.

In her downtime, Smoky learned tricks which she performed for the entertainment of troops in hospitals from Australia to Korea.

According to an Animal Planet investigation, Smoky was the first recorded therapy dog.  Her service began in July 1944 at the 233^rd Station hospital in New Guinea, where she accompanied nurses to see the incoming battle casualties.  Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic was the commanding officer who allowed Smoky to go on rounds and sleep in a hospital bed.  Smoky’s work as a therapy dog continued during and after World War II.

“Corporal” Smoky passed away at the approximate age of 14 on February 21, 1957.  A monument in Lakewood, Ohio is dedicated to “Smoky, the Yorkie Doodle Dandy, and the Dog of All Wars”.

Paws for Thoughts:

“Afterward, I thought of the ice and the darkness and the terrible wind and the irony that men could build ships and planes.  But when Nome needed life in little packages of serum, it took dog teams to bring it through.” – Leonhard Seppala, Togo’s Musher

Update from last week’s column about Pawsific NW Cat Cafe:  Tiffany and Brent Weitzel are the owners and managers of Pawsific NW Cat Café. We had not mentioned her husband’s name in our article.  Also, in addition to the 4 rescues they work with, there are 2 more to add to the list: Passionate Pussycats and HavaHeart.

Thank you, Tiffany and Brent!

Thom Donitz and Trish Lynn are neighbors and close friends who share their love of animals and wildlife. Trish and Thom are residents of Tumwater. Contact them at pets@theJOLTnews.com.