The Blue Cross, one of the UK’s leading animal charities, is supporting a fundraising appeal to help the plight of Sandbag and Hesco, a dog and cat currently living with British soldiers at their base in Um Qasa near Basra.

The Government has rejected a 6,000-strong petition to bring the pair back from Iraq to live with the soldiers who adopted them as camp mascots two years ago.

The Blue Cross responded to a call from Emma Simpson of associated charity, the Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies (SWHP), to help raise the funds needed to transport Sandbag and Hesco back to the UK and pay for quarantine costs.

Steve Goody, Blue Cross director of companion animal welfare said: “We want to help bring Sandbag and Hesco back to the UK where they will have a secure future as cherished pets. They have obviously developed a close bond with our soldiers and played an important role during their time in Iraq so it is only right that they should be able to stay together.”

Sandbag, described as a ‘hero dog’ by the soldiers who adopted him, and his fellow mascot Hesco were said to bring the troops luck on patrols. Both animals were being cared for by British soldiers at the base who desperately wanted to keep them, but they had to leave them behind when troops pulled out in July. US forces have now taken over the base but are expected to withdraw by the end of 2011, leaving the future of the animals unknown.

The Blue Cross has a long history of helping animals in both world wars, from providing veterinary hospitals for dogs and horses on the front line to running quarantine kennels for the dogs of returning soldiers. The charity took its name from the ‘Blue Cross Fund’ that it set up to help animals in wartime, although it no longer has a dedicated fund for this purpose. Today, it focuses on caring for sick and homeless animals across the UK.

To make a donation towards the appeal to bring Sandbag and Hesco to the UK please telephone 0800 408 1831 or donate online at www.bluecross.org.uk. Any surplus funds raised will be used to support the welfare plight of dogs and cats cared for by The Blue Cross.

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