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R80 000 brings Buddy home
10/12/2006 22:48 - (SA)
Alet van Zyl, Beeld
Pretoria - A four-legged South African who has been working as an explosives expert in Iraq has been flown home after being injured in a freak accident.
Buddy, an explosives-sniffing dog who has been working at Baghdad Airport for the past two years, broke his femur while off duty.
A team has been appointed to establish exactly what happened. Dr Japie Venter, a vet at Doornpoort animal clinic in Pretoria, was able to repair Buddy's leg in an operation that lasted 2½ hours on Saturday afternoon.
Buddy and Venter are employees of the Minedogs School in Pretoria, which has 70 explosives and security dogs deployed in Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Minedogs flew Buddy home for the operation, because vets in Baghdad were likely to euthanase him.
"Local vets in Baghdad don't have the training to work with dogs.
Cost R80 000 to bring him home
Venter said: "At the two veterinary schools in Iraq, there isn't even a canine skeleton."
It cost Minedogs R80 000 to get Buddy home. He had to spend half a day in Dubai and that, alone, cost R20 000.
Venter frequently flies to countries where Minedogs and Mechhem, a firm that trains dogs to detect landmines, send working dogs.
"I was once trapped in Iraq for three months, and I had to operate on a dog by torchlight," he said.
Venter said the two companies regarded their dogs not only as assets, but also animals that had to be treated well.
He said Buddy's operation was a big success.
"In 10 days' time we will begin with rehabilitation and physiotherapy and, in three months' time, he could be back on the job."
- Beeld
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