I would love to read the other stories you found, Celia. I had a Groenendahl dog who descended from one remaining pair of Belgian Shepherds who survived war time service. These dogs are seriously devoted to their handlers and will do ANYTHING to protect and return to them if they get separated.
My dog, Rasta, was outstanding and worked with me in many capacities like as a Dog Warden, a Guard Dog on a Gravel Pit and a farmyard protector. He dived through a plate glass window when he saw me leaving on a bus once! A friend tried to stop him following me on another occasion. She put him in a robust dog kennel in her garden. He destroyed it and escaped to find me in less than one hour.
No wonder the breed were used in wartime. They are astonishingly clever and unstoppable.
YES to all that! hope the stories are not all heartbreaking. our bond of affection with the animals in our lives is so deep, innocent and precious...and teaches us so much about the bravery of love.
Yes! Like dogs and horses, pigeons shared a sense of duty and heroism with their human handlers, and sometimes improved the morality of the handlers. I wrote about pigeoneers two years ago at a time when humans were needing a whole lot of improvement....
Have you ever seen the film King of Hearts? I would call it perhaps the greatest anti war film ever made. Also the funniest. Alan Bates plays a carrier pigeon trainer for the British army on the front line during WW1 who liberates the residents of an insane asylum of an abandoned French town. In its day it was required viewing for every dissenting college kid. Here’s the trailer https://youtu.be/6-nxdyTOtE8
If the pigeon knew he was 'saving' people who were there fighting for Britain's war to eliminate economic competition, would he have done what he did?
Animals should not have to witness our wars.
Probably the most haunting video I saw from the Ukraine war involved two German shepherds. Especially early in the Russian intervention this year, the Ukraine military was killing anyone who tried to flee the cities. A family with two dogs was in a minivan trying to flee, and they came upon a military roadblock, with a cell phone video recording from the passenger front seat. They were obviously unsure what to do, and they pulled over to the side of the road and stopped well before the roadblock, waiting for some signal from the soldiers. A hail of gunfire ripped through the van, and one of the dogs started screaming in a panic, obviously shot. The father, driving the car, was hit, and stumbled out of the van into the street, where he was mowed down with another burst of gunfire. Others in the car were screaming, seemingly yelling at the soldiers to stop, and the son ran to his father. The phone dropped to the street, and the video stopped. Then another cell phone video started, obviously from someone who came upon the scene later. Apparently the soldiers were gone, and all of the people who had been in the van were piled in a ditch off the road. The shot dog was dead in the van, blood everywhere. The other dog, the only survivor, was curled up against the dead bodies of his family in the ditch, crying.
I was crying too.
Something about the contrast of the innocence of the animals with the unspeakable barbarity of humans burned that video into my brain.
Dec 15, 2022·edited Dec 15, 2022Liked by Celia Farber
I have my own pigeon story that is far less dramatic than the heroism of Cher Ami (which I am glad to see honored after her heroism), but you might find this interesting.
For some reason, a homing pigeon adopted me as its human friend. I don't know where it came from, but apparently it was not afraid of humans, and would land on my arm when I held it out and let me pet it as it "cooed.' I never fed it, though I tried, by getting some bird feed which he barely touched, and I had some water in a dish.
The pigeon would even land on my upstairs window and peck until I let it in. Then it would stand on my head. while I listened to rock music on my headphones. My dad would walk in and see this, and laugh his ass off! No one knew why that pigeon liked us!
I had a big trampoline out back and my German Sheppard would get up on it and rock around as I bounced on the other end. I would see my pigeon friend WAY OFF, like a dot in the sky. He would fly up close and land on my arm while I stood on the trampoline. Then he walk around on the trampoline. At first,my dog was sort of growling at him, but soon, my dog relaxed and let that pigeon walk around on his back as he lay there. My dog liked the pigeon too, and his scratchy little talons on his back.
One day he flew away and we never saw him again. I was sad. I just hope he found a new friend and place to go.
I would love to read your story about Cher Ami. I'm sure your book would have a more positive impact on the world than some of the garbage that publishers are pushing on the "woke" readers!! It is also interesting to me personally, as the concept of using pigeons to transport secret messages has always fascinated me and is related to an app I am working to create.
A beautiful and heartwarming story Celia, thank you for sharing this with your readers. I never knew about Cher Ami and I now want to go see him at the Smithsonian.
Oh, yes! That wold be nice. I love animals. In particular, cats. However, I love seeing stories about birds, mamals and all of these sentient creatures. Bring it on.
When my father was 16 years old, his parents fled the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. My ancestors were French Huguenots who had fled persecution some 400 years earlier to find safety in that country. They sailed to New York on Holland America Line's "Westernland", the last ship out of Rotterdam before the German invasion. My father had a 15 year old brother and two younger sisters. The eldest of the girls was 8 and always a concern, right up to the end of her adventurous life not that long ago. Tales of that voyage always included sharing the fears about not being able to find "Aunt Susie" on the huge ship from time to time. Needless to say the "searches" would involve the ship's personnel and after a few false alarms they came to know that whenever "Susie" was "missing" she could always be found below decks in the hold with the circus animals who were also fleeing the approaching conflict.
My father knew that she was taking table scraps to them but kept that secret.
I've never researched which circus those animals might have come from or where they ended up but I know they made the trip more bearable for my young aunt.
Please share your stories on Substack with us. (Or better yet, self-publish so we can support you in your livelihood. I teach reading to children who struggle and would LOVE to use such book in my work teaching reading!!)
I would love to read the other stories you found, Celia. I had a Groenendahl dog who descended from one remaining pair of Belgian Shepherds who survived war time service. These dogs are seriously devoted to their handlers and will do ANYTHING to protect and return to them if they get separated.
My dog, Rasta, was outstanding and worked with me in many capacities like as a Dog Warden, a Guard Dog on a Gravel Pit and a farmyard protector. He dived through a plate glass window when he saw me leaving on a bus once! A friend tried to stop him following me on another occasion. She put him in a robust dog kennel in her garden. He destroyed it and escaped to find me in less than one hour.
No wonder the breed were used in wartime. They are astonishingly clever and unstoppable.
YES to all that! hope the stories are not all heartbreaking. our bond of affection with the animals in our lives is so deep, innocent and precious...and teaches us so much about the bravery of love.
Yes! Like dogs and horses, pigeons shared a sense of duty and heroism with their human handlers, and sometimes improved the morality of the handlers. I wrote about pigeoneers two years ago at a time when humans were needing a whole lot of improvement....
http://polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2020/06/pigeons-and-pigeoneers.html
Have you ever seen the film King of Hearts? I would call it perhaps the greatest anti war film ever made. Also the funniest. Alan Bates plays a carrier pigeon trainer for the British army on the front line during WW1 who liberates the residents of an insane asylum of an abandoned French town. In its day it was required viewing for every dissenting college kid. Here’s the trailer https://youtu.be/6-nxdyTOtE8
If the pigeon knew he was 'saving' people who were there fighting for Britain's war to eliminate economic competition, would he have done what he did?
Animals should not have to witness our wars.
Probably the most haunting video I saw from the Ukraine war involved two German shepherds. Especially early in the Russian intervention this year, the Ukraine military was killing anyone who tried to flee the cities. A family with two dogs was in a minivan trying to flee, and they came upon a military roadblock, with a cell phone video recording from the passenger front seat. They were obviously unsure what to do, and they pulled over to the side of the road and stopped well before the roadblock, waiting for some signal from the soldiers. A hail of gunfire ripped through the van, and one of the dogs started screaming in a panic, obviously shot. The father, driving the car, was hit, and stumbled out of the van into the street, where he was mowed down with another burst of gunfire. Others in the car were screaming, seemingly yelling at the soldiers to stop, and the son ran to his father. The phone dropped to the street, and the video stopped. Then another cell phone video started, obviously from someone who came upon the scene later. Apparently the soldiers were gone, and all of the people who had been in the van were piled in a ditch off the road. The shot dog was dead in the van, blood everywhere. The other dog, the only survivor, was curled up against the dead bodies of his family in the ditch, crying.
I was crying too.
Something about the contrast of the innocence of the animals with the unspeakable barbarity of humans burned that video into my brain.
I have my own pigeon story that is far less dramatic than the heroism of Cher Ami (which I am glad to see honored after her heroism), but you might find this interesting.
For some reason, a homing pigeon adopted me as its human friend. I don't know where it came from, but apparently it was not afraid of humans, and would land on my arm when I held it out and let me pet it as it "cooed.' I never fed it, though I tried, by getting some bird feed which he barely touched, and I had some water in a dish.
The pigeon would even land on my upstairs window and peck until I let it in. Then it would stand on my head. while I listened to rock music on my headphones. My dad would walk in and see this, and laugh his ass off! No one knew why that pigeon liked us!
I had a big trampoline out back and my German Sheppard would get up on it and rock around as I bounced on the other end. I would see my pigeon friend WAY OFF, like a dot in the sky. He would fly up close and land on my arm while I stood on the trampoline. Then he walk around on the trampoline. At first,my dog was sort of growling at him, but soon, my dog relaxed and let that pigeon walk around on his back as he lay there. My dog liked the pigeon too, and his scratchy little talons on his back.
One day he flew away and we never saw him again. I was sad. I just hope he found a new friend and place to go.
I would love to read your story about Cher Ami. I'm sure your book would have a more positive impact on the world than some of the garbage that publishers are pushing on the "woke" readers!! It is also interesting to me personally, as the concept of using pigeons to transport secret messages has always fascinated me and is related to an app I am working to create.
A beautiful and heartwarming story Celia, thank you for sharing this with your readers. I never knew about Cher Ami and I now want to go see him at the Smithsonian.
I would love to read the other stories, and can I just say your advent calendar is fantastic. Thank you
Oh, yes! That wold be nice. I love animals. In particular, cats. However, I love seeing stories about birds, mamals and all of these sentient creatures. Bring it on.
Yes, Celia, I believe the people are indeed interested. I speak for the masses.
When my father was 16 years old, his parents fled the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. My ancestors were French Huguenots who had fled persecution some 400 years earlier to find safety in that country. They sailed to New York on Holland America Line's "Westernland", the last ship out of Rotterdam before the German invasion. My father had a 15 year old brother and two younger sisters. The eldest of the girls was 8 and always a concern, right up to the end of her adventurous life not that long ago. Tales of that voyage always included sharing the fears about not being able to find "Aunt Susie" on the huge ship from time to time. Needless to say the "searches" would involve the ship's personnel and after a few false alarms they came to know that whenever "Susie" was "missing" she could always be found below decks in the hold with the circus animals who were also fleeing the approaching conflict.
My father knew that she was taking table scraps to them but kept that secret.
I've never researched which circus those animals might have come from or where they ended up but I know they made the trip more bearable for my young aunt.
Please share your stories on Substack with us. (Or better yet, self-publish so we can support you in your livelihood. I teach reading to children who struggle and would LOVE to use such book in my work teaching reading!!)
Do please let us read your stories about precious animals, thank you.
Thank you for bringing this story to light. Too many worthy animal stories forgotten.
Yes, please share your animal stories!