(Hualien) A former drug-sniffing dog, deprived of his job for being too friendly, has become the most popular asset of Taiwan’s rescue teams searching for survivors of the island’s worst earthquake in 25 years.
At least 13 people were killed and more than 1,140 injured by the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the island on Wednesday.
Strict construction regulations, with a strengthening of seismic standards in recent years, and widespread public awareness of natural disasters have helped limit the impact of the earthquake.
But landslides around Hualien, the epicenter of the quake, blocked tunnels and roads, making it difficult for rescuers to access survivors and victims in the mountainous area.
Footage released by county firefighters on Saturday showed Roger, an eight-year-old Labrador, climbing a fallen rock on a hiking trail near Taroko National Park in Hualien.
“Did you find anything?” Let’s go there,” a rescuer says to Roger, who doesn’t move.
The mayor of Kaohsiung (south), who sent a rescue team and dogs, including Roger, said the labrador was specialized in “rescuing and searching” for survivors “in the rubble”.
“Roger must have found some clues, and his troubled look made the dog handler realize something was going on, and then they found the victim,” Mayor Chen Chi-mai said in a Facebook post titled “L “exploit of the Quatre Pattes team”.
Six people not found
Dog handler Lee Hsin-hung said Roger located a victim “just five minutes after he started” searching and praised the dog’s confidence in the unfamiliar terrain.
Originally trained to be a drug-sniffing dog, Roger was stripped of that assignment because he was too friendly. He was later employed on search and rescue missions.
“He’s very agile,” Mr. Lee told reporters. “Like that time he went to the Shakadang hiking trail, it’s not a rescue site we can replicate (for training), but he wasn’t afraid.”
The soon-to-retire dog has won hearts in Taiwan with his playful nature, lunging at reporters’ microphones during interviews and destroying the chew toy given to him after a mission.
Another search dog, Wilson, a three-year-old Jack Russell terrier, also received praise after Taiwanese media broadcast footage of him stubbornly climbing impossible-to-move rocks.
PHOTO HANDOUT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Wilson, a three-year-old Jack Russell terrier, won praise after Taiwanese media broadcast footage of him stubbornly climbing rocks.
Searching the rubble from the quake was Wilson’s first mission, which located two victims – a performance that official Tseng Ching-lin said he was “surprised” about.
“He didn’t do well on tests, compared to other dogs,” he told a reporter as he carried Wilson, who was wagging his tail.
“He’s very intelligent, but he likes to play and he starts running in other directions,” Mr. Tseng added, as Wilson began to bite the microphone.
At least six people have yet to be found, while the number of people unable to reach emergency services has steadily declined as authorities managed to repair roads and clear tunnels over the weekend.