Dogs help retrieve bodies from landslip debris

Maya and Donna are trained in sniffing out bodies and people from under rubble

August 10, 2020 08:47 pm | Updated 08:47 pm IST - Thrissur

Maya, a Belgian Malinois, with her trainer. Maya, along with a Labrador Dona, had helped sniff out bodies from the rubble at Pettimudy, Idukki.

Maya, a Belgian Malinois, with her trainer. Maya, along with a Labrador Dona, had helped sniff out bodies from the rubble at Pettimudy, Idukki.

They can smell life and death. Maya and Donna, the specially trained police dogs from Kerala Police Academy, Thrissur, were a major support for the rescue force at the difficult terrain at Pettimudy in Idukki, where a massive landslip flattened estate lanes and claimed many lives.

Part of a 35-member squad under training at the police academy, they were taken to the landslip site from Sunday as per the suggestion of State Police Chief Loknath Behera.

While Lilly, alias Maya, a Belgian Malinois, is specially trained in finding bodies under debris, Dona, a Labrador, is trained in finding people trapped under the debris. She can work for five hours without rest, say the dog trainers in the police academy. The 10-month-old Maya traced three bodies from the debris at Pettimudy. They were procured from the training centre of Punjab Police.

The dogs in the academy have also been trained for conducting searches in forests, sniffing out explosives and in combing operations. They are also trained in catching those involved in theft and murder cases.

Eight of the Kerala Police dogs are specially trained in sniffing out drugs. The Kerala Police has 150 dogs in its dog squad. The dogs have a retirement home at the police academy. It has 19 residents now.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.