Noble Alliance Supports the National Service Animals Monument at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States
For more than three decades, Susan Bahary has devoted her art to remembering animals who have served alongside people. Through her sculpture and memorial work, she has brought the courage, loyalty and service of animals into public view.
Susan holds a particular place in the story of Noble Alliance. We were proud to feature her work in our Textures of an Alliance series, through which we explore the human-animal bond through art and creative expression. Her dedication to commemorating animals who have served alongside people also helped launch the development of the National Service Animals Monument in Washington, D.C., in 2022.
Today, that vision is moving closer to reality.
The National Service Animals Monument is seeking a permanent site, with the National Mall Reserve under consideration. Noble Alliance has submitted its support for the proposed location.
The reason is clear. Across generations, service animals have worked alongside people in assistance, healthcare, search and rescue, emergency response, law enforcement and other forms of public service. Their contribution has helped people live with greater independence, respond to danger, assist others and serve their communities.
The National Mall is where the United States preserves the stories it wishes future generations to remember. A monument to service animals would give their contribution a place within that landscape, alongside the histories of service, sacrifice, protection, disability, recovery and remembrance already represented there.
Yet the significance of the proposed location extends beyond the United States. The National Mall is visited by people from around the world. A National Service Animals Monument would tell an American story while expressing an idea that reaches far beyond it: that animals whose lives have been dedicated to serving alongside people have a rightful place in a nation's collective memory.
For Noble Alliance, this speaks directly to our belief in the Human-Animal Bond as a universal value of humanity. We hope that recognition at the National Mall will encourage other countries to look to their own histories of service animals and consider how these contributions might likewise be recognised within their national heritage and public spaces.
That possibility is part of what makes Susan Bahary's vision so meaningful to us. What began with an artist's determination to honour animals who served alongside people may, in time, become part of the commemorative landscape of the United States and offer an example to others around the world.
