Early this week a massive earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, killing thousands of people and trapping untold numbers of survivors in the rubble and debris. Rescuing the trapped is always the first priority, but locating them in the sprawling devastation is the challenge. At least a dozen countries sent search and rescue teams armed with some of the best equipment available – the noses of trained search and rescue dogs, along with their handlers.
One of the teams, coming from Mexico, included sixteen specially-trained dogs along with military and civilian handlers, all experienced in search and rescue – many were involved in that country’s dramatic response to the 2017 earthquake that destroyed part of Mexico City and killed more than two hundred people.
These talented canines are specially trained to sniff out humans, and then alert their handlers by barking and scratching the surface of the rubble where they detect a scent. They are valuable members of the search team, as they can often go into places where people cannot. It is especially dangerous work for both animals and humans as thousands of buildings were destroyed and the debris can contain elements that are harmful to rescuers.
Those dangerous conditions are why you often see search and rescue dogs wearing goggles and even paw-coverings to protect their feet. Usually search teams work in shifts, allowing the dogs to take a break so they will be able to do a better job; but it is cold and snowy there, making it imperative to find as many survivors alive as quickly as possible.
There have been many attempts to build a machine or device that can mimic the dog’s ability to locate survivors in a disaster like an earthquake, and some have come close, but they cannot yet compete with the canine nose. For now, rescuers depend on their dogs’ amazing sense of smell to find survivors – just one of the reasons we call them our best friends, when we’re speaking of pets.
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