S4 EP01: The Purple Poppy

World War and Service Animal Day is a couple of weeks away, on the 24 February to be exact, and ashamedly as a veteran myself I didn’t know about this very impawtant day or what the Purple Poppy was until I meet some of the team at the Dog Lovers Show. Needless to say, after that enlightening conversation and the purchase of a couple of Purple Poppies for myself and Andrew to wear alongside our Red Poppies I invited the President of the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation, Nigel Allsop, to come onto the show and talk to me about what it is AWAMO does, what does the Purple Poppy represent, as well as tell me about the first recipient of the Australian and New Zealand Distinctive Animal Distinguished Service Medal to be awarded this year on 24 February at the Australian War Memorial. In this episode I’ll cover:02:30 Tell us about yourself and the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation03:00 What animals are recognised by AWAMO06:30 The impawtance of animal mascots and what they did/do for their Units11:00 The World War and Service Animal Day – 24 Feb12:00 Policy changes on the return of animals from operational zones15:00 The countries who commemorate World War and Service Animal Day16:45 How can you find a local Animal Memorial?18:40 Purple Poppy Garden at the Victorian Shrine of Remembrance20:00 Purple Poppy Appeal and what it pays for – veterinary services for retired animals and care packages25:45 Where can you buy a Purple Poppy?28:30 The Pozieres Memorial and future International Memorials33:40 Awards for War and Service Animals – 2025 recipient and how you could qualify for one of two categories41:00 Blue Cross for Animals Award - The story behind ‘Digger the Bulldog’44:25 How can you help support AWAMO and their work? WANT TO LEARN MORE about the Purple Poppy Appeal and the Australian War Animal Memorial Organisation? Check out their website and socials here:Website: https://www.purplepoppies.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purplepoppies/Email: info@purplepoppies.com.au Website: https://awamo.org.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AustralianWarAnimalMemorialOrganisation/Email: info@awamo.org.au WANNA JOIN US FOR YOUR VERY OWN EPISODE? Book your recording session here: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/ThePugLifeShowPUGCAST@NETORGFT4130927.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/ If you haven’t already, please subscribe to the PUGCAST so you don’t miss out on the next Episode and leave us a review; it only takes a couple of seconds to give us a 5-star review and it goes a long way to helping other Pug-Pawrents find us. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at https://bit.ly/thepuglifeshow, so you get advance notice of our next episode and if you've got any questions or want to tell us how much you loved the Episode then let me know over at our Facebook Group - The Pug Life Show PUGCAST (https://bit.ly/PugLifeShowGrumble) where Crazy Pug Pawrents meet to talk all things pug.