A solider has been reunited with the puppy he rescued and cared for while serving in Syria.
US Army Spc. Tyler Mosley of the 7th Special Forces Group began caring for five-month-old German shepherd mix puppy Daisy when she was brought to the Army compound in January 2018.
An explosive ordnance disposal technician had found Daisy lying next to her dead sibling on the streets of Syria.
You can watch the pair’s emotional reunion here:
Tyler told Northwest Florida Daily News he took care of the orphaned puppy, naming her Daisy because she was ‘something beautiful out of a bad place’.
He added:
She was so short, fat and plumpy. She was just really loving. She didn’t know me, and she just came up to me and was licking me. I fell in love with her.
She was in a bad place. I just wanted her to be here so I could give her the love, the life that she wouldn’t have had there. I just wanted to bring her home.
Daisy developed an attachment to Tyler in Syria, crying whenever he left her.
Making a home for her in an old turkey cage at the compound, Daisy enjoyed a diet of canned sausages and pork.
Realising he couldn’t be without her, when Tyler arrived home in Florida he reached out to the Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International (SPCA International( for help.
After three months of separation, some paperwork and a few hundred dollars, the organisation reunited Daisy and Tyler earlier this week at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport.
The pup travelled from Syria to Florida via Iraq, Germany and New York City, being treated by a veterinarian along the way.
According to ABC Pensacola affiliate WEAR, Tyler sat cross-legged on the ground to greet the puppy after her long journey.
Daisy’s tail wagged as Tyler hugged and stroked her, telling the doggo ‘I missed you’.
Telling WEAR the doggo is ‘gonna get all the love in the world’, Tyler then took Daisy home to meet his wife, Kelsey, and their cat.
SPCA International offers military support programs which saves pets and reunites them with their military friends.
The website writes:
Members of the U.S. military stationed on bases all over the world befriend local animals during deployments that become their companions. But they are often forced to leave them behind when their deployments are over.
Our Operation Baghdad Pups program was founded in 2008 to rescue and reunite these patriot pets with our service members in the U.S. To date, we have rescued over 850 animals from multiple countries in the Middle East, Central Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Our program has expanded to become ‘Operation Baghdad Pups: Worldwide’ and now we rescue animals anywhere in the world for members of all military branches.
It was thanks to this program Tyler could take Daisy home, and the two clearly couldn’t be happier.
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