Skip to main content

Written question asked by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) on Tuesday, 9 December 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 11 December 2008. It was answered by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Monday, 15 December 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.


Armed Forces: Dogs

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many dogs are kept by each of the armed services; and for what purposes.
Answer

The Royal Navy has no dogs, the Army has 166 dogs and the Royal Air Force has 292 dogs. Army data are at 1 August 2008 (the latest date this information was captured) and RAF data are at 12 December 2008. Dogs are kept for the following purposes:

Type of dog Army RAF
Military working dogs
Patrol dogs 82 180
Army/RAF Police 18
Arms and explosive search 50 36
Vehicle search 20 40
Drug detection 1 18
Tracker 10
Infantry patrol 2
Other
Regimental mascot 1

Figures for military working dogs are a snapshot in time, and include those dogs being trained, those in service in the UK and those deployed on operations. It should be noted that the number of holdings may vary weekly according to training input and outflow, together with operational demand.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
485 c329-30W; 243458
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Armed forces Dogs
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk