WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Following the death of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al Baghdadi last week, much attention was paid to the important part dogs play in combat.  Grabbing the headlines was the role of special operations dog “Conan,” who played a critical role in the operation and is expected to visit the White House. But he won’t be the only big dog in town.

Another highly skilled combat dog – Yankee – plans to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, November 5^th to highlight the importance dogs play in finding landmines in warzones. Yankee is one of a team of dogs who have risked limbs – and paws – to search over 1.2 million square meters of heavily contaminated land to prevent civilians from being killed by a landmine. Yankee will be meeting with key Senators on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Committee on Armed Forces and Senators who are former war veterans.

Landmines have been back in the news due to the ongoing war in Yemen, which is now in its fourth year, leaving over 1000 civilians dead. Since the crisis in Yemen began, the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor says there have been over 9,000 casualties in the country.  Casualties sustained from landmines often cause severe economic difficulties for victims and their families. A mine itself costs around $3 to $30, while medical care to those injured in developing nations costs around $3,000.

Yankee will be joined by the President of The Marshall Legacy Institute,  Ret. Col. Perry Baltimore. Their organization donates highly trained landmine detection dogs to mine-affected countries and trains local handlers to safely use these dogs to find landmines. The Marshall Legacy Institute [MLI] works in 16 countries around the world, including Yemen. Not a single one of MLI’s dogs has been injured or killed while on the job while working in a dozen of the world’s most severely contaminated countries to help them recover from conflict and regain stability.

The United Nations states around 2,000 individuals per month are killed or injured by landmines around the world.  Since 1993, the United States has contributed more than $3.4 billion to more than 100 countries around the world to reduce the harmful worldwide effects of at-risk, illicitly proliferated, and indiscriminately used conventional weapons of war, and has invested more $37.5 million in conventional weapons destruction (CWD) activities in Yemen since then.

To demonstrate her sniffing skills in making the world a better and safer place, Yankee will meet with the students who led the campaign for her sponsorship at the North Mianus school in Greenwich, CT on Wednesday.  Yankee will hold a one hour “woofrence call” with children and landmine survivors in Yemen together with high schoolers at the North Mianus School, in Riverside, Connecticut. Students at North Mianus School organization’s CHAMPS (Children Against Mines Program) Team have helped sponsor combat dogs like Yankee, and want to show their support for their fellow peers in the war torn nation. Yankee is their common bond, as she’s a decorated combat veteran dedicated to saving lives.

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SOURCE The Marshall Legacy Institute