ANIMALS THAT WERE INVOLVED IN WARS

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.