Ugandan Dogs Guard Americans In Kabul
Sep 05, 2003
Ugandan dogs, specially trained to detect explosives, have been deployed in war-torn Afghanistan where the United States is constructing a new embassy in Kabul.
By Alfred Wasike
Ugandan dogs, specially trained to detect explosives, have been deployed in war-torn Afghanistan where the United States is constructing a new embassy in Kabul.
Experts say canines’ scenting capacity is more than 30,000 times sharper than that of human beings. Megan, a Border Collie, reputed to be the most intelligent breed of dog in the world, and her colleague, Tosca, a Belgian Shepherd were trained in Kampala by Armor Group Uganda, a US security firm.
Both animals are 30 months old. They are to serve a two-year contract punctuated by a two-week fresher course every three months in the volatile central Asian country. They will then return home for training for other assignments.
Sixty-six dogs from the same training camp are also deployed in East and Central Africa. Some 45 are stationed in Kenya, 11 in Tanzania and 10 in the DR Congo where they guard US embassies and other installations.
Some other 28 dogs are dispatched to different foreign embassies and institutions like the British Department for International Development (DFID) on Rwenzori House in Kampala, when intelligence information indicates a possible terrorist threat.
Dog instructor Birgitta Marais said the dogs were flown to Kabul in June to check consignments of building materials and sniff out any bombs. The materials come from the US by sea to the Pakistani port city of Karachi. They are driven for five days to Kabul through the Pashtun Mountains where the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding. US troops and Armor Group guard the construction site.
Marais, a retired South African police officer who trained the dogs with Ugandan dog handlers, said, “The Americans and other people in Kabul could not believe that the dogs we took to Afghanistan came from Uganda. I took them on June 24. We flew through Dubai. I stayed in Kabul for four weeks to help the girls (the dogs) to settle in.â€
The dogs have a two-year contract, he said.
Ends
Ugandan dogs, specially trained to detect explosives, have been deployed in war-torn Afghanistan where the United States is constructing a new embassy in Kabul.
Experts say canines’ scenting capacity is more than 30,000 times sharper than that of human beings. Megan, a Border Collie, reputed to be the most intelligent breed of dog in the world, and her colleague, Tosca, a Belgian Shepherd were trained in Kampala by Armor Group Uganda, a US security firm.
Both animals are 30 months old. They are to serve a two-year contract punctuated by a two-week fresher course every three months in the volatile central Asian country. They will then return home for training for other assignments.
Sixty-six dogs from the same training camp are also deployed in East and Central Africa. Some 45 are stationed in Kenya, 11 in Tanzania and 10 in the DR Congo where they guard US embassies and other installations.
Some other 28 dogs are dispatched to different foreign embassies and institutions like the British Department for International Development (DFID) on Rwenzori House in Kampala, when intelligence information indicates a possible terrorist threat.
Dog instructor Birgitta Marais said the dogs were flown to Kabul in June to check consignments of building materials and sniff out any bombs. The materials come from the US by sea to the Pakistani port city of Karachi. They are driven for five days to Kabul through the Pashtun Mountains where the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding. US troops and Armor Group guard the construction site.
Marais, a retired South African police officer who trained the dogs with Ugandan dog handlers, said, “The Americans and other people in Kabul could not believe that the dogs we took to Afghanistan came from Uganda. I took them on June 24. We flew through Dubai. I stayed in Kabul for four weeks to help the girls (the dogs) to settle in.â€
The dogs have a two-year contract, he said.
Ends