Page 23 - Chiron Autumn/Winter 2023

the latest equipment is provided.
At Chilbolton there is a fully equipped veterinary hospital,
X-ray department, pharmacy, and laboratory. There is even an electric clipping machine.
First arrivals at Chilbolton Down were 11 war dogs who entered quarantine on 17 October this year. All of them came from France and Germany; some of them dropped with Para troops during the invasion while others did fine work as mine- dogs and police patrol dogs Nearly all of them Alsatians, they were big, husky-looking animals, but trained to a fine degree. Now that the war is over, they will be returned to their civilian owners who “leased” them for the duration.
WHAT YOU MUST DO
How can you get your dog home? What do you have to do? “In the first place,” says the Commandant, “you must get an application form, fill
it in and have it countersigned by your CO. On this form you will have to state that the dog is your own property, and you must say how long you have had it. Your application then goes to the Administrative Veterinary Officer at your theatre headquarters, where it is considered
with hundreds of others. All overseas theatres are ‘rationed’ due to so many dogs per six-month period. In the BAOR it is about 150 to 200. If there were no rationing, we should soon be swamped out.
“If your dog is approved and your application granted, the veterinary officer will issue a licence – which
he is empowered to do by law – and the RAVC men will take the dog to
the port of embarkation where it
will be placed in a portable kennel, loaded onto a lorry and then sent across to this country on a tank landing craft, or in bad weather on an ordinary ship. There are four ports of disembarkation – Glasgow, Liverpool, Tilbury, and Southampton. The kennels, still on the lorry, are then brought by road to the quarantine station. On arrival every dog is given a thorough examination, is deloused and his ‘medical history sheet’ filled in. From this sheet we know your dog’s age, his weight, his past record, in fact everything about him.
“Finally, when your dog has been here for six months you must collect him. If you send us a rail ticket, we will put him on the train and be
glad to do it, but otherwise you must make your own arrangements. Later on, I hope to start a visiting day’
when once a week owners can come see their pets. Unless we do this, we shall have too many people coming in at odd moments wanting to see their dogs.”
Food for the dogs is carefully prepared and placed in separate feeding bowls by kennelmen. Rations are 1 and 3⁄4 pounds of meat (condemned as unfit for human consumption), 4 ounces of greens and 1 pound of biscuit.
To help pay for the upkeep of your dog while in quarantine standard rates according to ACI 1148, para 3 (g), of October this year. For officers of the rank of major and above the cost is £20, for officers of the rank
of captain and below it is £15. For warrant officers and NCO’s of the rank of serjeant and above the cost is £10, but for all ranks below serjeant it is only £5.
YOU ONLY PAY PART
When your dog arrives at the quarantine station your authority for payment will be forwarded
to the district paymaster, but it is pointed out that your undertaking of payments must be given in the first instance as stated on the application form. “Payment by soldiers for their dogs” adds the Commandant, is really a Service concession, for it does not cover the full cost by any means.”
If you have a dog in the BAOR and want to bring him home with you on your last one-way journey, you may have to wait a long time. But if your application is successful, you can feel confident that your dog, in the hands of the RAVC, will get skilled and sympathetic treatment during his stay in quarantine.
By 1948 most of the war-time Army had returned home and civilian kennels had re-opened so No 1 Military Quarantine Station was disbanded after three years of useful work.1
FOOTNOTE. Cats are not included in the Service scheme. Cattle, sheep, goats, and other ruminating animals are prohibited from entering the United Kingdom form overseas commands under the Diseases of Animals Acts.
1 The History of the RAVC 1919-1961.
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