Well, not really. But the Pentagon has launched a campaign (evidence of which is above) to get soldiers not to befriend strays animals, which is sad, because as you may have noticed we here at UPROXX kind of have a thing for cats, but also because life is a war zone, as you may have heard, is f-ing brutal, and I imagine that the companionship offered by an animal in a war zone could be beneficial to a soldier’s mental health. But then there’s rabies.
Reports the Stars and Stripes:
In September, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center released a study reporting that servicemembers sustained 20,522 animal bites from January 2001 to December 2010, or about 40 per week. Most were bitten in the United States, where rabies is rare.
Of the 643 troops bitten in Iraq or Afghanistan, only 117 received rabies vaccines, according to the report.
The report notes that some of those bites may have come from military working dogs, which are vaccinated against rabies. The report also stated that the military’s bite statistics are undoubtedly underestimated, since minor bites often go unreported.
“However, even minor animal bite injuries can have serious consequences – particularly bites inflicted by wild animals,” the report stated.
How could this guy hurt anyone?
Also not popular with the U.S. military right now, apparently — Bill O’Reilly’s book.
(HT: Mother Jones’ Tumblr)