Jens Custom Crafts LLC - Help Soldiers Help Animals

Meet Junior. She is one of the many animals in the Middle East that has become attached to our brave soldiers. Unfortunately, these animals can not fly home with their best friends and they must find other means of getting them home with them. This can be very costly, but our military personnel is doing everything that they can to give their precious best friends a brand new life.

Even a dollar will help. Spread the word to everyone you know. We can't let these precious animals be left behind.

Nowzad Dogs & Baghdad Animal Rescue are in the process of merging.
Donation instructions can be found here and here.
Below are just a few of their stories. Please consider even a small donation to one of the above.

My name is Lola, I am 4 months old and I am an Afghan puppy. When I was just a few weeks old I was taken away from my mother to be used as a fighting dog, I could hardly walk. My ears were going to be cut off as this is the culture in this country. However Sophie kindly took me away and looked after me. She gives me plenty of love, plays with me, feeds me and keeps me clean. Sophie is soon leaving Afghanistan and I will be left here to fend for myself. I cannot look after myself or get my own food. I may be used for fighting when she is gone. I would really like to come back to England to have a better life and live with Sophie. If you could be so kind and donate as little as a £1 I will be one step closer to a better life.

Lola is currently being cared for in a safe location but we still need funds to enable us to get her home.

We found Buddy in the baazar of a remote city in north western Afghanistan when he was no more than 6 weeks old. He was malnourished and probably slept outside in temperatures below freezing at night. Regardless of his condition, he was still one of the liveliest and most easygoing dogs any of us had ever met. We brought him back to our Firebase and took him in as the team dog.

Amidst rocket attacks and heavy fighting he�s provided countless hours of enjoyment for us while we aren�t working and has done alot to take everyones mind off of the living conditions and war going on at our doorstep. Nothing beats coming back to go to sleep at 4 AM only to find Buddy already in my bed curled up in my sleeping bag! He lives with us and will continue to live with us until I can hopefully bring him home with me and give him a nice warm place to sleep at the foot of my bed at my house in America.

He�s done so much for the morale of 20 Marines that it would be a tragedy to have to leave him behind. He currently sleeps in my tent and during the day enjoys playing with his friend �Bear� who is also being brought back to the US. If Buddy makes it back, it means he has been given a chance at a better life, and he deserves this because he has definitely made mine better already!

Buddy is also being cared for at the Afghan shelter but again we still need funds to get him home.

Guts was originally rescued by an American platoon south of Kandahar city. When it was time for them to move out it was decided by their chain of command that they could not take Guts with them. The dogs at the camp they were at had all been showing signs of distemper and soon all of the dogs were going to be put down.

Guts really had nowhere to go so lucky for him we happened to be in the camp for the day. Guts wandered into the kitchen tent and, not to some peoples liking, we fed him alot of bacon. He ate so much that his stomach was bloated (hence the name Guts). We couldn�t leave him behind to get put down so we brought him with us to a small outpost where about 20 of us were staying. We didn�t have any dog food so he ate rations and junk food just like the rest of us. He was still very little (only about four or five weeks old) so we had to protect him from other dogs. Even the cats would beat him up. We gave him a wash basin and blankets for a bed but he usually whined until someone would pick him up onto their cot. Guts has long since outgrown his bed but not our cots. Guts is still a member of our platoon. He is between three and four months old and everyone is hoping to get him back to Canada as soon as possible.

This is Dori, she has had a very rough time of things and now her owner wants to take her away from Iraq so she can have the life she deserves. Dori had a very bad accident and was almost killed but due to her loving owners dedication she survived. Her story is below along with some pictures (very graphic).

�Dori first came to our attention in Sep 2008 while standing next to one of the bins in the Danish Demining Group compound Basrah � she was around 8 months old at the time, Lone took her to her room, fed her a tin of tuna and the bond was established, after a quick house meeting it was decided that Ms Lone could keep her. She was named Dori after one of the character from the Film �Finding Nemo� (she wasn�t the smartest cat on the block � bless!)

After a happy 4 months Dori decided that it would be a good idea to jump onto the electricity transformer box inside the compound; maybe she was attracted by the hypnotic buzz and the warmth the transformer produces, they say �Curiosity Kill�s the Cat�, well it nearly did that day. Dori managed to arc her-self between two of the electricity phases and 50,000 volts passed through her body, causing some horrific injuries. How she survived is a mystery at least 5 other cats have met their destiny this way. Apart from her front left hand paw (which swelled up to nearly the size of her head) she seemed fine but then the skin on her two legs started to peel off exposing muscle and tendons. Her back right leg was the next to go; it appears the electricity passed through her body and exited through the Hock Joint (ankle in humans), the leg from the Hock Joint down was completely dead and started to decay; there was no saving the leg and it had to be removed.

Operation 1

We took advice from a UK Vet (Jasper Gale � many thanks Jasper!) on how to remove the leg, I went on R&R and bought a junior hack saw, Lone went to Denmark and managed to smuggle in some anaesthetic and suturing material and we were prepared to amputate the leg at the mid femur. Then we found an Iraqi vet who said he would conduct the operation (after he offered to �give us a better cat, one with 4 legs� � I don�t think he grasped the pet concept!). After clear instructions, with drawings supplied by Jasper, he performed the operation. He took the leg off at what would be in human anatomy the shin bone; the flap of skin he folded over the stump when he closed the wound was not enough and the bone burst through the stitches. Again, Jasper was called. He made it clear that if the exposed bone was left, infection would set in and we would have no chance; Dori would die a slow and painful death.

Operation 2

The vet was asked to come in again and do it right! We explained on the white board where to cut and how to do it. I stayed with the vet for the first skin incision and all appeared to be going well, so I left to tell Lone he knows what he is doing and not to worry. When I returned he had taken the leg off at the knee joint! What can we do, the poor little thing has now being through more trauma in her short lifetime than most people see in a lifetime. After 2 weeks Lone and I took out the stitches (with the help of Dori) and she started her rehabilitation, again!

The Future

Dori is now completely healed physically, although she still needs the leg to be amputated properly before she develops long term mobility problems. At least now she is pain free; it is one year today (09 Jan 10) since she ventured onto the transformer box! With the help of Louise we hope to get Dori into Denmark with Lone; so Dori can start her new life with Lone and her other rescue cat from a Mine Action mission in Angola. Lone promises not to work abroad again as there are too many cats that need to be saved!�

Dori�s owners, Andrew and Lone are desperate to get this little girl home. Both of them work for the Danish Demining Group and will be leaving Iraq soon so we are aiming to try and get her out before the end of March.

Help Soldiers Help Animals

Help Soldiers bring their pets home from the Middle East!

Lola

Buddy

Guts

Dori