It was around 1100 BC that historic accounts indicated the first use of animals in battle — the great elephants of India. 

Centuries later in 331 BC, Alexander the Great of the Roman Empire, during the battle for Babylon, watched as his Roman army froze in shock and fear when seeing elephants charging towards them.

However, it didn’t take Alexander the Great long to see the weakness of the elephants’ use and eventually the Roman army captured Babylon. 

The purple poppy was first introduced by Animal Aid of the United Kingdom in 2006. It was to recognize the contribution of animals throughout history in battles and wars.

The Royal Legion of Great Britain did not initiate the use of the purple poppy but accepted it as a valued way to remember the animals that were sacrificed during times of war.

The purple poppy campaign started in Victoria, B.C. in 2015 and by November 2019, many other cities such as Toronto and Ottawa became involved in the Animal Aid campaign to recognize these heroic victims of war.

The elephant was not the only animal that saw war action. Indeed many others were enlisted to assist in battles, and even to this day are used.

One of these animals we are all very aware of is the horse but you would be surprised by some of the others. As mascots besides dogs, there were foxes, pigs, monkeys and a black bear. 

Cats were often taken onto battleships to keep the mouse and rat populations under control and ensure food stocks for the sailors were not contaminated. Some cats during the First World War were also used in the trenches for the very same purpose.

Camels in the African campaigns were used to not only transport supplies but also to carry the wounded from the front lines. Stretchers were slung over the camel’s backs and each camel could carry two wounded soldiers back to the hospitals.

The Italians used mules for moving supplies as well as wounded men. Great care was given to these animals in keeping them clean and healthy during the battles.

Carrier pigeons were used for carrying messages over great stretches of the battlefield. A little-known fact is that during the First World War, there was a great penalty given to anyone who interfered or killed a carrier pigeon.

Canaries were also used in the trenches. They were the first to detect poisonous gasses. Unfortunately, their method of transmitting the message was their dying.  

The dog has been the most constant member of the “animal brigade” having been used by the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Europeans. The earliest record of dogs being used in warfare is 600 BC with the Greeks using dogs to rout out Persian invaders. 

Dogs were used in the trenches during the First World War for “mousing” but also for carrying messages through the trench systems. The Germans used dogs to help lay communications lines past enemy posts.  

Over the centuries, dogs were trained as watchdogs, messengers, trackers, attackers and bomb-sniffing.

Dogs were used to locate wounded airmen in the Netherlands during the Second World War, to locate bodies during the London Blitz; to sniff out land mines in the Middle East after the Gulf War and even today they have been trained to sniff out not only bombs but drugs in the war to keep our countries safe of crime.

Julia Murray, the principal of Royal Oak Community School asked the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum’s Poppy Brigade if their students could help assemble some poppy memorials. The school involved students from grades 3 to 8 in this project. 

Not only did the students work with the red poppies but also the purple poppies. They learnt about the sacrifices that animals have made over the centuries to assist humans in times of battle.

You can see some of the students work in front of their school on Wellington Street and at the carriage stand in town beside the Prince of Wales Hotel.

Sentineal Carriages will have two horses once again sporting purple poppy blankets as well as purple poppy rosettes on some of the harnesses.

The red poppy has been a respected symbol since the First World War to the young men who defended peace, to the doctors and nurses who did not come home and to the thousands of civilians who died during times of war.

The purple poppy is a new addition, to remember and honour the brave animals who have been constant companions to humans through times of war and peace.