Here I am on Park Lane in
central London, one of the most expensive lanes in the world if you’re looking to
buy a property. The lane curls around one side of Hyde Park and sitting on a
grassy traffic island sits the Animals In War Memorial. Why it isn’t in the vast
350-acre park itself is a mystery. You have to use a pedestrian crossing to get
to it or risk getting run down by a Russian/Arab burning along in their new
Ferrari. It commemorates the millions of animals that died under British
military command throughout history.
We usually think of the human cost of war but millions
of animals died from carrying heavy loads, bullets, bombs, starvation or exposure
to cold temperatures. They had no choice and are the truly forgotten dead. It's
thought about 40 million animals 'served' in the two World Wars for Britain -
mainly mules, donkeys, horses, bullocks, camels, dogs and pigeons. They were
selected for their natural skills but paid the price suffering agonising deaths.
Many were on the battlefield and died of heart attack, exploding shrapnel, mustard
gas, thirst and disease. Thousands of horses trapped in deep mud or snow were
left to starve or mercifully shot. Millions of animal left the country and almost
none returned. The lucky survivors were almost all slaughtered and used to feed
the remaining armed forces and prisoners. At home about 750,000 animals -
mostly cats and dogs - were killed due to shortages in World War 2.
I must admit I was a little disappointed with
this memorial. Much more money could be spent on a much more informative
memorial. There was little to read, no horrifying statistics, no graphic
pictures showing the pornography of war and its carnage on innocent animals.
Perhaps there's a permanent indoor exhibition somewhere that pushes home the
horror. I remember going to an exhibition in Manchester once and can recall
footage of horses rolling around in pain as their legs had been blown off.
About 30m away is Hyde Park so why the memorial
wasn't put there is mystery. People who stop by are mostly crossing Park Lane
and don't care. It features horses but that'd it. I suppose the luckiest animals
were pigeons which had some chance of returning home. About 300,000 of them - flying
at 1 mile/minute - served in both wars and saved thousands of lives by carrying
vital messages. I'm sure the memorial could have had a row of pigeons on it.
I had to get back to the coach which was waiting
down by The Dorchester Hotel. I took a few photos though there's not much to
see. In hundreds of years there'll probably be a memorial remembering the
number of animals slaughtered for food (about 2 billion/week globally) and future
generation will wince at how cruel we were. I did a salute and left.