The U.S. Capitol recently received a very special visit from MLI's Canine Ambassador, Mine Detection Dog Yankee. Yankee, who worked in Sri Lanka with the Army’s Humanitarian Demining Unit to sniff out landmines for seven years, was invited to a briefing on the Hill to help spread awareness of the scourge of landmines in Yemen. The civil war between Houthi rebels and Yemeni government forces has placed the population at risk with bombs falling from the sky and many thousands of landmines buried in the ground. Some 10,000 innocent people, including children, have lost lives and limbs in Yemen to the hidden killers since 2014. Along with Yankee and MLI’s President, Perry Baltimore, the Capitol Hill briefing was attended by the Ambassador of Yemen to the U.S., Dr. Ahmed Bin Mubarak, co-founder of the Landmine Survivor's Network, Ken Rutherford, Nobel Laureate Jerry White, and Elana DeLozier of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The panelists urged Washington to not turn its back on civilians suffering in Yemen and to continue raising awareness of the threats posed by landmines in Yemen and worldwide. MLI congratulates and thanks CHAMPS student leader Hailey Hires for your excellent interview featured in the ABC News article listed below. To view press coverage of the event, follow these links: ABC News "Canine hero visits Capitol Hill amid 'global landmine crisis'" Washington Examiner "Canine draws congressional attention to landmine casualties" To keep up with Yankee and her latest adventures, follow her on Twitter here.
Left photo: Canine Ambassador Yankee. Photo courtesy of ABC News.
Right photo: (From left to right) MLI President Perry, Ken Rutherford, MDD Yankee, Ambassador Bin Mubarak, and Suzanne Fiederlein, Associate Director at the Center of International Stabilization and Recovery. Photo courtesy of Yemen Embassy D.C. Twitter account.
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