Ratchet the pup is alive - but where?

The Army won't say where the Iraqi dog adopted by a U.S. soldier is, but a group stands ready to bring it home.

By STAFF and WIRE REPORTS

Last update: October 19, 2008 - 1:59 PM

Print this story

Follow local news on Twitter

More from Local + Metro

Ratchet, an Iraqi puppy adopted by an American soldier from Spring Lake Park, is alive, the Army confirmed Tuesday, as an animal rescue group expressed hope that it would be allowed to bring Ratchet back to the United States as soon as today.

The case of Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg and Ratchet has cast a spotlight on Defense Department rules that prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets or transporting them home.

Beberg, 28, tried to send the dog home to Minnesota on Oct. 1 with the help of Operation Baghdad Pups as she prepared to leave Iraq. But the dog was confiscated from an Army convoy by a U.S. officer before it could reach the Baghdad International Airport.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David Russell said in an e-mail that the dog was alive but that he could provide no other details or comment on the effort to bring it to the United States.

More than 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let the puppy go home with Beberg -- a number that nearly tripled in a day as publicity over the case spread.

After the Star Tribune published a story on Sunday, Northwest Airlines offered to fly Ratchet from Kuwait to Minneapolis so Beberg's parents could keep him until their daughter's Army stint ends next year.

Beberg adopted Ratchet after soldiers found the crying 4-week-old puppy in a pile of burning trash on Mother's Day. Beberg's mother, Pat, said her daughter has had a tough time in Iraq, and that she bonded with the black-and-white mutt and feared he would be destroyed if he was left behind. Pat Beberg said that after Ratchet was confiscated on the way to the Baghdad airport, her daughter had the dog with her at her base for about a week more. But last Friday, after returning from guard duty and on the verge of a transfer that would take her away from the base, she found the dog was gone.

"I found no leash, no dog, no trace," Beberg said in a Friday e-mail to her parents. "I called to see if my first sergeant had ordered him moved, but he was not at the office and the sergeant who answered the phone didn't know anything. I don't know where my dog is right now, and I am completely distraught. Not only am I leaving, but I am leaving without getting to say goodbye.

"I'm almost crying too hard to type."

Since then, Pat Beberg said, her daughter has been assigned to a different unit. "She's trying to keep a stiff upper lip, but it's very stressful," the mother said.

The family and Ratchet's supporters have been trying to work through congressional offices to persuade the Army to let Ratchet come to Minnesota. Pat Beberg said the offices of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman and Rep. Keith Ellison have written letters to the Army about the case.

Operation Baghdad Pups -- a rescue program run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International -- was traveling to Baghdad today to collect six dogs rescued by U.S. troops. Terri Crisp, program director of Operation Baghdad Pups, is hopeful Ratchet will be one of them, but she has a substitute dog ready to go in his place if necessary.

Baghdad Pups has taken more than 50 dogs and cats home for their warrior owners.

Defense Department rules prohibit U.S. troops who are deployed from having pets or taking them home. Sgt. Brooke Murphy, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said there were several reasons for the rule, including health issues and difficulties in caring for the animals.

In June, a dog brought back to the United States by Operation Baghdad Pups tested positive for rabies after it was euthanized for other health concerns.

Staff writer Mary Jane Smetanka and the Associated Press contributed to this report.