Recognising the Importance of Animals to the Armed Forces

That the Parliament congratulates Kuno, a Belgian Malinois, on being awarded the Dickin Medal, the equivalent of the Victoria Cross for animals in the Armed Forces; acknowledges that Kuno, who was badly injured in Afghanistan, took part in 16 military operations across a five-month period in the fight against Al-Qaeda; recognises that the medal was also awarded in 1945 to Sheila, a Border Collie, who assisted Shepherd John Dagg in the rescue of four American airmen lost on the Cheviot Hills after a crash in December 1944, and acknowledges the immense contribution that animals make to the Armed Forces.