Remembrance Day-the animals who served

[Catherine]

I did not know about this. I sit here stunned by the information. I am overwhelmed by the numbers.

I work with seniors who were there in the war and in fact both my parents were there in the military and I have never heard one word of this pet holocaust. Not even a hint. Why?

Strange irony. I am listening to a book right now, called David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. It is sub-titled, Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. He was just talking about the Blitz and how it affected people. It was thought that there would be wholesale panic and a lot of mental disorders. Oddly people handled the bombing very well. The dead were gone. The people with near misses were traumatized, but most people felt stronger and more energized by the danger. The Government totally misread how people would react. There were surprized how people coped.

The directive for the mass killing of pets fit how they thought things would be. People would have coped and somehow fed their pets. Certainly the cats would have helped with pest control.

I really think this needs to be made public. It is a dark phase of British history and bringing it to light can only help. People remember what they did. They must have thought about it. It is better to admit that a tragic mistake was made than to pretend it never happened.

They have had to admit that evacuating the children was not always the best idea either.
I hope someone puts up a memorial to all the pets that died needlessly.