New Zealanders have one of the highest pet-ownership rates in the world. Wartime was no different. Take a tour through this menagerie of military mascots: dogs, cats, donkeys, monkeys, pigs, goats and birds. There's the famous bull terrier Major Major, along with the less well-known, but very cute, slow loris adopted by 1 RNZIR in Borneo.
This film discusses the role of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Second World War, and particularly the part played by Flight Lieutenant Henry Fanshaw, 75 Squadron's long-serving bear mascot.
The Solomons Island parakeet Private Hunt, mascot for 37 New Zealand Infantry Batalltion, 3 New Zealand Division in the Pacific, poses with his trainer.