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CNN Live Today

Coming to America

Aired July 10, 2003 - 11:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now we want to turn to the story of a rescue that we talked about a moment ago before the break. Welcome to America these four little puppies and their mother. They arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport after a 9,300 mile journey from Iraq. The amazing story of their rescue began with a television newscast. At least that's the story we hear. And it also involved the generosity of Marcie Christmas. She has rescued more than a few dogs here in the states, and I believe these are the first dogs that Marcie has rescued from Iraq. And she is with us in our L.A. bureau.
Good to see you, Marcie. Is that true, these are the first dogs you are taken from in from outside the country like this?

MARCIE CHRISTMAS, RESCUED PUPPIES FROM IRAQ: Yes, but since I've been rescuing for 30 year, I deserve the right now to rescue in other countries.

HARRIS: OK. Well, tell us how you came about finding out about these four little puppies?

CHRISTMAS: Well, on April 10th, "World News Tonight" did a broadcast. The reporter went to the Iraq-Jordan border station, and there was nothing there, but abandoned equipment. And so they put the camera down on the ground and it was overrun with puppies. And this was in the middle of nowhere, just sand dunes. And the last shot really got to me. There was a puppy sitting in the middle of the road with all these tanks and abandoned equipment, and I just couldn't get past that image. And I didn't know what to do. I don't even have a computer. I'm ready for the 20th century and it's the 21st.

HARRIS: How did you track these puppies down, or track down someone to help you with it?

CHRISTMAS: I went to a friend's house, and he taught me how to e-mail. And the first time, I e-mailed the World Society for Protection of Animals, which is in Massachusetts. I knew John Walsh would go into the Baghdad Zoo the first chance he would get. I contacted him and he said, well, the first chance we get we're going to the Baghdad Zoo, but we would going by way of Kuwait, and I needed someone in Jordan. So I e-mailed everyone in Jordan -- any organization that sounded vaguely ecological, and a nice gentlemen, a professor at the college who teaches plants, he e-mailed me, and said there's a new humane center for animal welfare in Jordan, in Amman, and it's run by an English couple, Margaret and Peter Ledger, and it's sponsored by Queen Raniyah (ph) and Queen Noor, who as you may remember, she is American, or was American.

HARRIS: That's right.

CHRISTMAS: And so, I e-mailed Margaret Ledger, and the next day I got a telephone call from Jordan, which was really surprising, and she told me that she had been contacted by the American embassy, that there were some starving gazelles, 1,500 of them, at the border. Saddam Hussein's son had left them starving there, and a general was going to help her cross the border the first chance she would get and she would look for those puppies, as well.

HARRIS: They picked the dogs up for you there and flew them back to the states.

CHRISTMAS: Yes, I paid for them. It cost $844 to fly four puppies, and they found the mother who was starving. The major found her in the sand dunes. She couldn't even stand up. And so he found her.

HARRIS: We only have about a minute left, so I'm going to try to squeeze in as many questions as I can.

CHRISTMAS: Oh, sure.

HARRIS: First of all, what kind of dogs are they?

CHRISTMAS: I don't know, I call them Disney dogs, or Babylonian hounds, I guess. They bark in Arabic I know.

HARRIS: Oh, they do? OK. So do you have names for them yet?

CHRISTMAS: Not yet. I only had them two days. I was thinking maybe Rumsfeld, and Tommy Franks and Jessica Lynch or some names.

HARRIS: The dogs of war, as it were, OK.

Are you going to keep them, or give them away? Are you going to raise them? What are your plans?

CHRISTMAS: I'm trying not to get attached. I'll probably place them with friends, so I can keep track of them hopefully for 14 years.

HARRIS: So four or five dogs from Iraq get along with -- how many chihuahuas do you have in your house?

CHRISTMAS: I run a chihuahuas rescue from the dog pound, and I give them to elderly people in Santa Barbara. But Betty White, who used to act a lot with my husband, Eric Christmas, she loved my chihuahuas, and she said, if you glue them all together, they only make one dog. So I have four very old chihuahuas that came originally from the pound, and they're doing fine.

HARRIS: We're glad to hear that, and this little guy here seems like he is quite well adjusted here.

Marcie, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. Good luck to you and the rest of the pups. And maybe we'll check back with you and see how little Rummy... CHRISTMAS: Well, I just want everyone to know that one person can make a difference, and this proves that. As Mother Teresa said, it's not important whether you succeed or fail, only that you try. So if you see something on the television try to change it if it bothers you.

HARRIS: There you. Marcie Christmas, thank you very much. Good luck to you. Take care.

CHRISTMAS: Thank you. Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 10, 2003 - 11:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now we want to turn to the story of a rescue that we talked about a moment ago before the break. Welcome to America these four little puppies and their mother. They arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport after a 9,300 mile journey from Iraq. The amazing story of their rescue began with a television newscast. At least that's the story we hear. And it also involved the generosity of Marcie Christmas. She has rescued more than a few dogs here in the states, and I believe these are the first dogs that Marcie has rescued from Iraq. And she is with us in our L.A. bureau.
Good to see you, Marcie. Is that true, these are the first dogs you are taken from in from outside the country like this?

MARCIE CHRISTMAS, RESCUED PUPPIES FROM IRAQ: Yes, but since I've been rescuing for 30 year, I deserve the right now to rescue in other countries.

HARRIS: OK. Well, tell us how you came about finding out about these four little puppies?

CHRISTMAS: Well, on April 10th, "World News Tonight" did a broadcast. The reporter went to the Iraq-Jordan border station, and there was nothing there, but abandoned equipment. And so they put the camera down on the ground and it was overrun with puppies. And this was in the middle of nowhere, just sand dunes. And the last shot really got to me. There was a puppy sitting in the middle of the road with all these tanks and abandoned equipment, and I just couldn't get past that image. And I didn't know what to do. I don't even have a computer. I'm ready for the 20th century and it's the 21st.

HARRIS: How did you track these puppies down, or track down someone to help you with it?

CHRISTMAS: I went to a friend's house, and he taught me how to e-mail. And the first time, I e-mailed the World Society for Protection of Animals, which is in Massachusetts. I knew John Walsh would go into the Baghdad Zoo the first chance he would get. I contacted him and he said, well, the first chance we get we're going to the Baghdad Zoo, but we would going by way of Kuwait, and I needed someone in Jordan. So I e-mailed everyone in Jordan -- any organization that sounded vaguely ecological, and a nice gentlemen, a professor at the college who teaches plants, he e-mailed me, and said there's a new humane center for animal welfare in Jordan, in Amman, and it's run by an English couple, Margaret and Peter Ledger, and it's sponsored by Queen Raniyah (ph) and Queen Noor, who as you may remember, she is American, or was American.

HARRIS: That's right.

CHRISTMAS: And so, I e-mailed Margaret Ledger, and the next day I got a telephone call from Jordan, which was really surprising, and she told me that she had been contacted by the American embassy, that there were some starving gazelles, 1,500 of them, at the border. Saddam Hussein's son had left them starving there, and a general was going to help her cross the border the first chance she would get and she would look for those puppies, as well.

HARRIS: They picked the dogs up for you there and flew them back to the states.

CHRISTMAS: Yes, I paid for them. It cost $844 to fly four puppies, and they found the mother who was starving. The major found her in the sand dunes. She couldn't even stand up. And so he found her.

HARRIS: We only have about a minute left, so I'm going to try to squeeze in as many questions as I can.

CHRISTMAS: Oh, sure.

HARRIS: First of all, what kind of dogs are they?

CHRISTMAS: I don't know, I call them Disney dogs, or Babylonian hounds, I guess. They bark in Arabic I know.

HARRIS: Oh, they do? OK. So do you have names for them yet?

CHRISTMAS: Not yet. I only had them two days. I was thinking maybe Rumsfeld, and Tommy Franks and Jessica Lynch or some names.

HARRIS: The dogs of war, as it were, OK.

Are you going to keep them, or give them away? Are you going to raise them? What are your plans?

CHRISTMAS: I'm trying not to get attached. I'll probably place them with friends, so I can keep track of them hopefully for 14 years.

HARRIS: So four or five dogs from Iraq get along with -- how many chihuahuas do you have in your house?

CHRISTMAS: I run a chihuahuas rescue from the dog pound, and I give them to elderly people in Santa Barbara. But Betty White, who used to act a lot with my husband, Eric Christmas, she loved my chihuahuas, and she said, if you glue them all together, they only make one dog. So I have four very old chihuahuas that came originally from the pound, and they're doing fine.

HARRIS: We're glad to hear that, and this little guy here seems like he is quite well adjusted here.

Marcie, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. Good luck to you and the rest of the pups. And maybe we'll check back with you and see how little Rummy... CHRISTMAS: Well, I just want everyone to know that one person can make a difference, and this proves that. As Mother Teresa said, it's not important whether you succeed or fail, only that you try. So if you see something on the television try to change it if it bothers you.

HARRIS: There you. Marcie Christmas, thank you very much. Good luck to you. Take care.

CHRISTMAS: Thank you. Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com