StarTribune.com
No place like (a new) home for Ratchet
By MARY JANE SMETANKA, Star Tribune
October 22, 2008
The most famous dog in the world -- for this week, at least -- arrived in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Ratchet, the rescued Iraqi puppy, blinked modestly in the glaring lights of TV cameras, gazed at a U.S. congressman and looked around at people wearing T-shirts bearing his puppy picture. Then he lowered his jet-lagged body onto the linoleum of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and slept the sleep of the dog-tired.
Ear rubs and even a dog biscuit failed to wake him. For Ratchet, who for two weeks was the subject of a tug-of-war between a Minnesota soldier in Baghdad and a military that prohibits pets, it's a peaceful ending to a story that outraged people around the world, via the Internet.
Ratchet was a tiny pup when he was rescued from a burning trash heap by American soldiers in Baghdad on Mother's Day. Army Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Spring Lake Park adopted the dog, calling him a comfort during a stressful year-long stint in Iraq. On Oct. 1, in preparation for a transfer to the United States, Beberg tried to get the seven-month-old border collie mix out of Iraq and to her parents' home in Minnesota. An officer confiscated the dog as he was on the way to the airport.
Beberg told her parents she was devastated at the thought of leaving the puppy in a country where few dogs are kept as pets and wild dogs are often treated like vermin. She posted the story on Facebook. Katie Konrath, a college friend from White Bear Lake who had been following Beberg's postings about the puppy, blogged about Ratchet's situation, posted it on the website Digg, and asked friends to read it, drawing attention as more people read the story. From there Ratchet's story went viral. An Internet petition demanding clemency for the dog was signed by almost 69,000 people around the world. Minnesota's members of Congress pressed for the dog's release. Last week the military relented. Ratchet was rescued by Operation Baghdad Pups, a group that tries to get dogs and cats adopted by American military personnel out of Iraq.
(snip)
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/32489589.htmlhttp://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6309425,00.jpg