ANIMALS THAT WERE INVOLVED IN WARS
Added on: 26th Oct 2015
RAT
In World War II, rats were supposed to be used in a similar way as the bats.
The British Army had the idea of stuffing dead rat bodies with explosives.
The carcasses were to be distributed near German boiler rooms, where it
was expected they would be disposed of by burning, with the subsequent
explosion having a chance of causing a boiler explosion. However, the
rat bombs were never actively used.
GLOW-WORM
As unlikely as it may seem, glow-worms also played their role in warfare.
In World War I, soldiers hiding in dark trenches collected the insect in jars
to create glow-worm lanterns. Allegedly, it only took a few specimens of
this insect species to emit enough light to study battle maps and read letters.
BEE
Ancient Greeks, Romans and other civilizations catapulted bee hives over
the walls of besieged cities, releasing masses of angry bees at their enemies.
However, in modern world warfare, bees have been trained to sniff out
bombs and other explosives.
SQUIRREL
In 2007, Iranian intelligence operatives captured 14 squirrels, which they
considered spies because the rodents, found near the country´s borders,
were allegedly carrying spying equipment of foreign agencies. According to
the operatives, the squirrels were serving as spies for Western powers with
the intention of undermining the Islamic Republic.
VULTURE
Squirrels were not the only animals accused of espionage. In recent history,
there have been several cases of various birds carrying alleged spying
equipment. According to an Israeli ornithologist, Sudanese authorities
detained an Egyptian vulture in the late 1970s carrying Israeli equipment used
for animal migration tracking and a Griffon vulture with a suspicious Israeli
gear was captured by a Saudi farmer in 2011.
TURKEY
During the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), a group of Nationalists
retreated in a monastery, cut out of all regular distribution channels
so the only way they could receive supplies was from the sky.
To deliver the fragile supplies, the Nationalist pilots attached them to
turkeys, which descended flapping their wings, thus serving as
parachutes for the equipment. After the delivery, the turkeys also
provided food for the hungry soldiers.
CHICKEN
If you think KFC only refers to the fast food chain, you have probably never
heard of Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC), a secret military operation of the
American Army in the Gulf Wars. In the operation, the American soldiers
adopted 250 chickens to carry atop their Hum-Vees. Sensitive to poisonous
gases, the chickens were to serve as early warning devices of chemical warfare.
BEAR
There have been no war bears recorded in the history of warfare with
just one exception. A Syrian brown bear called Wojtek. Found as a cub
in Iran, Wojtek was adopted by the Polish Army and soon became the
mascot and pet of all the units. He even was officially drafted into the
army as “private Wojtek”. He is known to have reliably moved ammunition
and helped the soldiers at the battlefields but his favourite hobby was
smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. After the war, he was transported
to the Edinburgh Zoo where he spent the rest of his life.
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