What would happen to family pets in the world wars?

I suppose I'm specifically interested in what happened in big cities like London, where the kids were evacuated and everyone bundled into the underground and back-garden shelters when the air raid sirens went off. Did the pets go with them into the shelters or platforms? Or were they just left in the houses to be bombed or else scared half to death.. I'm kind of torn on whether its completely unthinkable to leave them out there, or whether it was hard enough to find places to "cram" the humans in that it really wasn't possible to bring pets..|||The biggest problem in the last War, was trying to feed our animals. Dogs weren't so difficult because they are omnivorous so any little scraps were welcomed, but cats were a real problem because they are virtually pure carnivores.


We never went to a public air-raid shelter in Bristol, but hid under the stairs when there was an air-raid - when you looked at an area which had been blitzed, the noticeable thing was how many staircases remained standing when the rest of the house had been destroyed.


So - the dog and cat came under the stairs with us!


People did smuggle pets with them into the public shelters and down London's Underground, and they certainly wouldn't have been left behind when using an Anderson Shelter (which was always full of pet spiders!!). Many animals were left to fend for themselves - often they were the only survivors of a family after an air-raid. We took in a lovely spaniel who survived in a house in the raids on Liverpool - his family perished.


Large zoo animals and poisonous snakes were evacuated from large City areas to country zoos - you didn't really want to meet a hungry lion wandering the streets on top of everything else.


Just another ramble - there wasn't any problem with obesity during the War!!! Nor for some years after because food (and clothes) rationing didn't end automatically with 1945.|||a lot of owners took the heard decision of having their pets put to sleep......i really don,t know what i would have done..and if the worse happens today then i would pray that i would go in the first few days, along with my cats|||Some people take better care of their pets than their kin. Pets go where humans go. They would also establish special pet care centres on account of toilet habits. Dogs are petrified of bombing, also x-mas or Guy Fawkes crackers and need to be calmed and re-assured all the time by their masters.|||They probably were left behind to fend for themselves or perish. Sad, isn't it?|||There will not be a 3rd world war|||In WW 1, people did not have pets per se; the animals had to earn their keep. Dogs guarded the house, cats ate mice and other pests.





WW 2, the animals would be kept as a source of warmth (Body heat)





This only applys to Britian, not other places|||I could never leave my pets - I don't know how people did that to those animals during Katrina.





I'd never leave them no matter what. I love them way too much.|||l would suppose they would go underground to with the pets owners. l mean who wouldn`t take their pets with them|||if there is another world war,i dont think there will be anything or anybody left.we will totaly destroy the world.ps unless you have a cockroach as a pet! dont worry we wont know a thing about it!|||If they were carry-able they were saved. If left, they probably perrished! S=l+ happens. use your imagination. Whats worse, a few dead pets or men killing each other during a war!|||Did you look closely at films made in U.K. in latter part of


World Wars One %26amp; Two? The English are thin. England


had a three month food supply if ocean shipping ceased


and that took into account the Victory Garden produce all


citizens were urged to grow. Try eating American-made Spam as your sole source of protein for the next two years


and feel free sharing the same with any pets because war year foodstuff shortfalls prevented factory production for


pet consumption. Cost of Spam to England was hundreds of drowned seamen who died attempting to ship food past enemy Naval blockade whereas you'll just spend personal resources to feel another kind of pain. Yes, two years of


Spam, and try living off produce of a Victory Garden too.


Is it too unthinkable? Air Raid Wardens would halt all those


transporting pets to public shelters. English who had their


private shelters could %26amp; did share space with pets.|||I assume you meant to ask what happened historically.





People are always given priority over animals during any war. Best not to think about what happened to pets in the Soviet Union. There were cases of out right cannibalism in Stalingrad and a few other cities that were laid siege by the Axis forces.





Certain exceptions were made for service animals (seeing-eye dogs, bomb-sniffers and horses that carted ambulances); but for the most part, animals were left to fend for themselves.





World War I saw to the extinction of the passenger pigeon. Mules and horses were also used to cart supplies and injured; but they were just as vulnerable to bullets and shrapnel as they are today.


Meat of any sort becomes a luxury during war.|||When you running to save your life your not thinking of you pet so much. I'm sure if I could, I would.|||As much as WE ALL love our pets, sometimes they get left behind, or "turned loose" to find their own shelter. It's not like, "Hey, there's an air-raid scheduled for 3:45 this afternoon. I hope I can get a reservation for myself, my family, %26amp; "Fluffy", at the air-raid shelter."


Sad, yes, but that is why they call it "Survival", and NOT "Happily-Ever-After"