Search & Rescue Dogs Find Earthquake Survivors in Turkey

By Caroline Coile

More than 110,000 rescue personnel are currently working to unearth survivors and help those whose lives have been upended from the two huge earthquakes that ravaged Turkey and Syria. Some of these are part of K9 search & rescue teams from around the world, including El Salvador, Germany, Mexico, Qatar, South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Ukraine and the United States. Breeds include Labradors, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervurens, Belgian Sheepdogs, Springer Spaniels, Border Collies, Beagles, German Shorthaired Pointers and Golden Retrievers.
Dogs are still considered better than any technology for locating buried people. The dogs are able to detect very distinct from 20 to 30 feet below the surface. The layers of rubble, as many as eight stories worth, may seem too deep for scent to emerge, but handlers recall that when these same teams were searching Haiti they found survivors under six to seven floors that had pancaked on one another. Still, in some cases the dogs must return after several layers have been removed, and are then able to alert.
Depending on the team, the dogs work in 20 minute shifts, an the rest for 40 minutes. They are trained to detect the scent of living humans, and upin doing so, to stand at the spot and bark. A second dog is then released to see if it confirms the scent. The dogs are rewarded with toys or treats.
The search dog will also check surrounding people for matching scents, which they then ignore. They can also differentiate between the scent of a person who has been out in the open versus one that is confined, and of a person who is living or dead.
The work is physically and emotionally grueling for people and dogs. It is also dangerous. A German Shepherd named Proteo, from Mexico, died while searching. Initial reports said he was killed by a collapsing building, but his handler said he died of a combination of exposure to the cold and of being too old (almost 10 years) for the strain he was under.
A pet Pekingese named Venus saved her owner 105 hours after the earthquake by running towards a rescue crew and barking at them. She then led them to her trapped owner, who had been sandwiched beneath floors of a building for days.
Many survivors have been pulled from the rubble, some as long as 10 days after the quake. But the emphasis has now moved to recovery of bodies, in which cadaver dogs will play a role.
Besides human losses, the toll in animal deaths is huge. Local animal welfare groups have received thousands of calls asking for help. Rescuers, whose focus is on humans, also rejoice at rescuing trapped pets. Unfortunately, most pets are without owners, and there is little food to be found as stores have been decimated. Shelter is severely limited as there is not enough for human survivors and the cold weather is brutal.
The human death toll has now topped 41,000. The rescues attributed to search & rescue dogs may be small in comparison, but every life is saved is immeasurable.

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Posted by Liz on Apr 2 2023. Filed under Current Articles, Featured, The Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.