Coquitlam search dog now hooked up to GPS
A hiker gets hurt in the woods. A search dog can track the hiker, and now Coquitlam Search and Rescue can track the dog.
“Over the past few years, we continuously have seen an increase in search and rescues calls,” the organization explained in a request for funds. “Dogs can sniff out your target and access places people otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”
The Village of Anmore recently chipped in $800 for a GPS dog tracking collar set to be worn by Otto the rescue dog under the supervision of handler Garry Mancell.
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“A dog’s capable of scenting a person as much as 150 metres away, so, particularly for a non-responsive subject it’s a very, very valuable tool,” Mancell told Anmore council on Tuesday.
The GPS collar allows Mancell to follow Otto’s movements on a map that can be shared with SAR managers, he explained.
Otto and Mancell have been training for almost two years to hone their searching skills.
Otto is one of 11 civilian search and rescue dogs validated by RCMP for tracking.
Ground search and rescue training is handled by the British Columbia Search Dog Association, which operates under the umbrella of Emergency Management BC.
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