Hero Bess an example of animal greatness

Bess was our own, homegrown war horse. PHOTO/FILE

ANZAC DAY is almost upon us again and it seems there is a never-ending stream of stories that tell of courage, heroism and commitment to a cause.

Usually these stories relate to the men and women who either gave their lives, their health or the best years of their youth in defence of their country but last week we told the remarkable story of Bess, the horse.

For those of you who saw the film War Horse, reading about Bess was confirmation it was not only men and women who lived through the horrors of war, died on battlefields, or returned broken.

Bess was our own, homegrown war horse.

She was born in South Wairarapa and served with distinction in many theatres of war, a war regarded as cruel and bloodthirsty to the extreme.

That she survived at all was remarkable as the vast majority of serving horses came to an unfortunate end. But Bess was obviously a great survivor, or lucky, or both.

She had the honour of taking part in victory parades at war's end and returned home to New Zealand to carry on serving.

That service included leading the Grand Parade at the Wairarapa A&P Show in Carterton.

It was the sort of story that stirred your emotions when reading it, making anyone with a vestige of love and respect for animals wish they had been alive to see and meet Bess.

As exceptional as she must have been Bess was, of course, not alone.

Animals in war and in peace have been doing man's bidding since time immemorial and it shames me to say that they are not always appreciated or given the care and love they deserve.

If they were, there would be no need for such organisations as the SPCA but, that said, the opposite is true too.

Many animals have humans to thank for taking them in and caring for them when all else seemed to be lost.

To think that in Bulls there is a special Anzac Day ceremony planned again this year to honour war horses, especially Bess, proves that there are those among us that care, and pay homage to those who answered the call to duty.