Heroic dogs with skills that save lives

Animal Tales

Heroic dogs with skills that save lives

While technology offers some amazing new ways of tracking down lost people and animals, there are many rescue scenarios where dogs’ natural skills have proven infinitely superior to high-tech gadgets. Here we look at the way their unique abilities are being harnessed to save lives.

‘Newfies’, superdogs of the sea

Possessed of unusual strength and resilience, Newfoundland dogs were highly valued by Canadian fishermen, who also prized their calm and loyal nature. With their muscular build, thick coats and webbed paws, Newfoundlands are completely at home in the water. At Portishead Marina near Bristol, a charity called Newfound Friends makes the most of the Newfies’ remarkable talents. The dogs not only work in children’s hospices as therapy dogs, they also take part in sea rescues and rescue training, showing off their skills at festivals across the UK. Ellie Bedford, a volunteer and trainer with the charity, told the TV channel Beastly: “No human can do what these dogs can do. I’m a lifeguard myself and I would struggle to tow two people, whereas these guys can pull in ten people.”

A bad start for Bear

Today many different breeds are used in search and rescue operations, but the victims they search for are not always human. This year’s terrible bushfires in Australia displaced and killed up to three billion wild animals, including thousands of koala bears. During an epic rescue mission in some of the areas worst hit by the bushfires, a very special Australian Koolie dog – aptly named ‘Bear’ – was brought in to search for surviving koalas. Bear was brought up in a domestic setting, but with

his high energy levels and obsessive/compulsive behaviours it quickly became clear that he was never going to be a family pet. Fortunately an animal conservation charity spotted his potential after he was abandoned by his owners. “He was a very high-energy young adult and apparently ate the whole flat he was living in,” his trainer Romane Cristescu told the Australian Geographic magazine. Ironically the qualities that made him unsuitable as a pet have made him the perfect rescue dog. Romane puts Bear’s previous bad behaviour down to boredom, commenting: “his worst nightmare is to be left behind when you go to work.” However, once the dog started his koala detection training, he showed an outstanding ability to locate suffering animals.

Raising rescuers’ spirits

Bear rescued a hundred koalas that would have otherwise have died in the blackened and burnedout landscape of the Australian bush. In addition to this impressive record, he has also played an important role in keeping his human team-mates’ spirits up. It seems that hero animals such as Newfound Friends’ therapy dogs and Aussie koala tracker Bear not only protect humans and animals, they also have a profound effect on our mental health. Australian travel presenter and wildlife campaigner Tyson Mayr told the News.com.au website: “I quickly saw just how much of an impact [Bear] was having, not just with the koalas he was saving, but also the smiles he was bringing to the already tired and exhausted wildlife carers, rescuers and vets from around the country.”

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