PETA Statement: Dogs Left in Afghanistan

For Immediate Release:
August 31, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA has called on the United States Central Command commander, Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., and the U.S. Department of State’s acting assistant secretary, Dean Thompson, to intervene in the fate of dozens of dogs and other animals—including U.S. military working dogs and companion animals belonging to evacuated Americans—to ensure that as many of them as possible are safely evacuated, along with their human caretakers. Today, PETA is appealing to President Joe Biden—and encourages everyone to do the same—to take immediate action.

Inside sources have told PETA that the allegedly abandoned animals may include approximately 60 bomb-sniffing dogs who sat in cages on the tarmac at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul for days, their exit blocked by the U.S. Department of State, and an estimated 60 working dogs who were kenneled in an airport hangar, suffering in the heat without adequate access to food or water. In addition, dozens of companion animals belonging to evacuated American families—including the little pug companion of an embassy worker—have apparently been “released” onto the streets to fend for themselves, with little chance of survival.

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch:

Animals don’t wage wars, yet they are often—along with innocent civilians—among the worst affected by them. Thousands of dogs “served” in Vietnam only to be abandoned during withdrawal, and it appears that history is repeating itself. Many of the brave, loyal dogs stranded in Afghanistan risked their lives to save humans while others are beloved members of already traumatized families, and they must all—along with their caretakers—be evacuated. They appear to have been abandoned, and this cannot be allowed to stand. PETA is calling on President Biden to get these individuals out now. They don’t need another memorial or museum—they need a plane ride.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.

For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.