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  • 2017-11-13 (xsd:date)
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  • President Trump Abruptly Shuts Down Dogs for Wounded Warriors Program? (en)
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  • On 11 November 2017, multiple web sites published identical articles claiming that President Trump had abruptly and personally halted a program involving therapy dogs and wounded veterans, leaving the latter high and dry on Veterans Day: These articles did not link to (or cite) any credible news report or other information corroborating their claims that President Trump had ordered a program involving service dogs and veterans closed as of Veterans Day 2017. Many readers inferred that the shutdown of a canine program for veterans had actually occurred on Veterans Day itself. But while Washington, D.C., radio station WTOP reported that operations of the Warrior Canine Connection at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center had indeed been abruptly terminated, they noted that the stoppage had been ordered and implemented a couple of weeks prior to Veterans Day: Washington, D.C., television station WTTG-TV also covered the story, reporting that a popular service dog program at Walter Reed and Fort Belvoir was told to close up shop immediately, leaving many frustrated with a lack of answers for the shutdown. But neither WTOP nor WTTG reported that the closure had been ordered by President Trump himself. Moreover, another article on the subject from WTOP reported that concerns about risks to both disabled vets and animals within the program had been reported in a letter from a military contract officer to the National Intrepid Center of Excellence several months earlier: On both Facebook and Twitter, the Warrior Canine Connection opted to respond privately to an avalanche of inquiries prompted by the articles: Washington, D.C., television station WRC provided details missing from many of the other news reports, primarily that Walter Reed (and not President Trump) had issued the stop work order, and that the reason given for the order was patient safety: Although the Warrior Canine Connection's stop work order was reported as having been abrupt or without warning, local news stations repeatedly referenced a letter of concern sent to an oversight agency in April 2017. The order was handed down not by President Trump, but by officials at the Walter Reed medical facility due to patient safety issues. We contacted the Warrior Canine Connection for further information, and they provided us with the following statement: (en)
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