By Daniela Caride Publisher
Hunter, who found three girls in Haiti yesterday (Photo courtesy of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation)
Five days after a major earthquake hit Haiti (measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale), the chances of finding someone alive in the rubble are remote.
But search and rescue dogs are still beating the odds by doing what no human can do alone.
Yesterday, firefighter Bill Monahan and his search & rescue dog Hunter, a Border Collie, located three girls in the rubble of collapsed 4-story building in Port-Au-Prince. The girls were trapped since Tuesday (read the entire press release here) near the badly hit Presidential Palace.
In 2008, Bill and Hunter responded to the Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth, California, flying in by helicopter to search for survivors.
“Hunter is an outstanding dog all around,” said Bill on an interview when Hunter was in training. “I think he will go beyond just being a good search dog and will be one of the great ones.”
You bet, Bill. Hunter is a hero, just as you are.
| Bill and Hunter were trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation — the only non-profit in the U.S. that recruits rescued dogs, partners them with firefighters, and trains them to find survivors buried in the aftermath of disasters.
The teams and their training are provided at no cost to fire departments throughout the country. Watch this amazing video of firefighters training the dogs to find people alive. |
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Amazing ;o))
Hi Franca,
I really enjoyed the video, too. I didn’t know these dogs were trained to find people who are alive only.
Great news and video clip, our canine friends never cease to amaze me.
Hi Brett
I feel the same way.
National Disaster Search Dog deployment update – For those of you following the progress of our search dog teams in Haiti, to date, they have made 8 live finds and they continue working tirelessly to save more lives. We also have teams pre-staged to respond to incidents that may arise due to the heavy storms in Calif.
The events of the past weeks have really been testament to the importance of search dogs in disaster response. We are so proud of our talented and dedicated search dogs and handlers and all of their hard work. If you would like to learn more about our foundation or to get up to date info please visit http://www.searchdogfoundation.org
This is wonderful news! Thank you for the update! The Daily Tail made a donation to UNICEF and to IFAW. I hope our efforts bring relief to people and animals there.
Wonderful! Nice to hear something positive among all the sadness.
I agree, Tamar! Now the search efforts are officially over in Haiti.
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.