Ex-British soldier risks his life to save animals in dangerous areas (interview)
Wamiz recently sat down with Tom, ex-British soldier and founder of animal charity Breaking the Chains.
https://wamiz.co.uk/news/169897/ex-british-soldier-risks-his-life-to-save-animals-in-dangerous-areas-interview
https://wamiz.co.uk/news/169897/ex-british-soldier-risks-his-life-to-save-animals-in-dangerous-areas-interview
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00 My name's Tom, I'm the founder of Breaking the Chains,
00:02 which is an animal rescue organization.
00:05 I'm an ex-British soldier,
00:06 and when I retired from the military,
00:08 I got into animal rescue.
00:09 Primarily a team of military veterans
00:12 from the US and the UK, primarily the UK.
00:15 We specialize in saving animals from dangerous areas,
00:18 be it conflict zones or natural disasters,
00:21 such as earthquakes and anywhere else,
00:24 basically animals in desperate need of help.
00:26 Breaking the Chains rescues basically any type of animal.
00:29 So from dogs and cats all the way up to lions and bears,
00:33 there's no animal that we won't help.
00:35 We also help humans,
00:36 because if we ease their suffering,
00:38 it helps us to elevate and ease the suffering of animals.
00:41 When the earthquake hit in Turkey,
00:44 I was actually in the conflict areas of Ukraine.
00:46 All of a sudden, early hours in the morning,
00:48 my phone just started going mental.
00:50 We got on the ground within 72 hours
00:52 after the earthquake had hit,
00:54 and it was just pure carnage.
00:55 It was apocalyptic.
00:57 When we first got out there, we focused on saving humans.
01:00 We then moved on to the rescuing of the animals
01:02 that were trapped inside these buildings
01:04 from when, obviously, the owners had fleed.
01:06 We managed to rescue over 130 cats,
01:09 two dogs, which was brilliant.
01:10 We also evacuated two shelters, around about 300 dogs.
01:14 It was hard work, tiring, relentless,
01:16 and a very horrible situation.
01:19 Favorite part of a rescue is just knowing that they're safe
01:22 and that we've achieved our aim
01:23 and we've achieved our mission.
01:24 Every now and then when I'm on a bad day
01:26 and I just get one of these owners
01:28 and family members of the cats or dogs
01:30 or whatever animal it is, send me a message
01:32 and just say, "Yes, he's doing all right.
01:34 "It's brilliant, it's amazing."
01:35 Yeah, so Breaking the Chains was founded
01:40 because my life was saved by an animal.
01:43 A very special boy, a springer spaniel,
01:44 ex-military working dog called Gypsy.
01:46 And when I was diagnosed with PTSD,
01:48 I was basically stuck at home.
01:50 I wouldn't leave my room, I wouldn't go out,
01:52 and I didn't go anywhere for months.
01:53 And a friend of mine rang me up.
01:55 He knows that I love dogs.
01:57 And he said to me, "You need to get yourself a dog.
01:59 "You need to give your head a shake
02:00 "and you need something that's gonna give you that drive
02:02 "and that passion to get out."
02:04 So I went to where all military working dogs go
02:06 when they go for their retirement.
02:08 I went round there to adopt a dog.
02:09 So I walked around there and I was looking at all these dogs,
02:12 Labradors, German Shepherds, all fit, all healthy.
02:15 And I went to a right at the bottom on the last kennel,
02:18 I could just hear this barking, constant barking.
02:20 And the person taking me around said,
02:21 "Oh, you don't wanna look there, nobody wants it."
02:24 And in the moment that she said that to me,
02:26 I was like, "Okay, let me have a look."
02:27 And he just sat there staring at me
02:29 and he looked up at me and I looked down at him
02:32 and I was like, "I'm in a bad way, you're in a bad way.
02:34 "Let's do it."
02:35 And then the moment I got him into the car,
02:37 he just, he went mental.
02:38 And he was just bouncing around in this car
02:40 and I couldn't stop laughing.
02:41 And then from that moment,
02:42 it brought a smile to my face that he kept on.
02:45 His love and compassion got me out of the house.
02:48 It got me a drive and a desire to wanna help animals.
02:51 And every animal that we save,
02:52 every place that we go to,
02:54 every human that we save,
02:55 every difference that we make is because of that dog.
02:58 People don't understand just how incredible animals are
03:02 and what they give to us.
03:03 And every animal that we rescue and that we put in a home,
03:06 they come out of themselves from that horror
03:08 and all they do, even though humans put them in that horror,
03:11 is give love to those people.
03:13 And that's what he did to me
03:14 and that's what he continues to do.
03:16 And his legacy is breaking the chains.
03:18 (gentle music)
03:21 (gentle music)
03:23 (gentle music)
03:26 (gentle music)
03:29 (gentle music)