Last week, photos of dead working dogs surfaced from Kuwait showing the unnecessary killing of at least 24 working dogs after Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) cancelled the contract with Eastern Securities. KNPC ended the contract with E Sec after their dogs failed to detect explosives in an explosive detection test during training.

Following the initial SOFREP article, we spoke to many of the vendors and K9 trainers that have interacted with E Sec in the past decade. In particular USK9 Unlimited, has been very active in helping to track down the facts of the case even though they have not had any direct interactions with E Sec since 2009. USK9 Unlimited wants to convey that they condemn such a gross and vile act against defenseless animals. USK9 Unlimited believes that the dogs that they sold to E-Sec have already been medically retired as the last dog sold to them was in 2008. The timeline still has some holes, as some vendors and trainers don’t want to come forward due to the circumstances of the incident. Here is a broad timeline of what we know so far.

Timeline:

2008 E Sec bought 21 trained explosive detector dogs from USK9 Unlimited.

2008 E Sec enters a contract to provide security services using K9s for KNPC

2009 E Sec sent their contracted handlers to conduct training with USK9 Unlimited

2009 USK9 Unlimited chose to no longer do business with E Sec due to contract disputes over money owed to USK9 for services rendered. There were also numerous complaints from E Sec employees (handlers and Kennel Masters) regarding extremely low compensation levels for handlers, late payrolls, poor working conditions, housing issues etc.

Large gap in the timeline

2012 The last dog purchased from Castle K9 by E Sec (unknown number of dogs purchased from Castle K9)

Aug 2014 E Sec renewed the contract with KNPC

 Aug 2015 E Sec sent an unknown number of handlers and dogs attend refresher training with LAK9

LAK9

Jan or Feb 2016 Contract ended between E Sec and KNPC

June 17, 2016 24 to 40 dogs killed by E Sec

June 2016 Esmail Al Misri, lodges a criminal complaint against E Sec with Kuwaiti government

 

Interview with Furaj al-Furaji: KNPC advisor

The interview below is with Furaji al-Furaji, a Kuwaiti government advisor that works for Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). He claims that the killing of the dogs was a direct result of the cancellation of the contract with KNPC even though E Sec claims it was due to medical issues. Furaji raised the alarm with KNPC after the dogs failed to find explosives during a routine test during training. His main concern for cancelling the contract was the lack of protection from the E Sec’s K9 services.

He believes that the dogs were killed with something in their food and were not humanely euthanized by a trained vet. According to the New York Post, vets in the area refused to treat E Sec’s dogs because the company always failed to pay for treatment in the past. Furaji also claims to have raised the alarm with the Kuwaiti government after the dogs were killed. Finally, he states in the interview that the local police have taken over the care of the remaining 80-90 dogs and the US government is also involved. Fuarji did not have any details on the capacity of the involvement of the US government. SOFREP reached out to Furaji al-Furaji but we have not received a response yet.

Interview courtesy of Mike Evans WLBT

 

Featured image courtesy of  Missy Skye, the founder of My Cats And Dogs in Kuwait