A stray dog befriended by a US soldier in Iraq has been allowed to move to the US and be reunited with its owner.

Powerful allies in Capitol Hill and a worldwide online petition meant that Ratchet, a black dog that was adopted by Sergeant Gwen Beberg, will be shipped out of Iraq as early as Sunday. It will go first to Kuwait, where NorthWest Airlines is waiting to fly the dog to Minneapolis.

The rescue operation, which was due to start yesterday, was delayed after a communications breakdown between a pet rescue group and the US military.

Sergeant Beberg, who adopted the dog in May after helping to save it from a burning pile of rubbish, was delighted at the news. “I am thrilled that Ratchet is going home!” she wrote in an e-mail to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) International, which helped to have the dog moved.

An online petition urging the US military to allow Ratchet to move to the US gathered almost 50,000 signatures. Supporters called congressional offices and Army headquarters demanding that the dog be saved.

Senator Norm Coleman and Senator Keith Ellison, both of Minnesota, also called for the dog’s release.

US soldiers in Iraq are prohibited from bringing home stray animals but the Department of Defence has made exceptions in the past.

Terri Crisp, of Operation Baghdad Pups, visited the Iraqi capital to help Ratchet and six other dogs. She flew out of Baghdad the same evening without the dog, however, because he did not make it to the airport.

Ms Crisp said that US soldiers had rescued many abused animals while serving in Iraq.

SPCA International, which runs the programme Operation Bagdad Pups to transfer Iraqi cats and dog befriended by troops to the US, blamed the military for responding too slowly to their requests to release Ratchet from a base south of Baghdad.

The military said that the dog was a free agent and could leave at any time. US forces were unable to provide the transportation because the the trip to the airport was considered an unnecessary risk to the lives of soldiers.

The pet rescue group said that it would make a second attempt to fly Ratchet out of Iraq as soon as Sunday. Sergeant Beberg, 28, said that she planned to do a “victory dance” once this happens.

The soldier is due to return home next month after completing her tour in Iraq. Larry Garrison, a publicist for Baghdad Pups, said that pets befriended in a war zone often helped soldiers to readjust to normal life when they returned home.

Operation Baghdad Pups claims to have helped in the transfer of more than 50 dogs and six cats to the US.

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