Search Dog Foundation and Hurricane Sandy

Search Dog Foundation

on call and in action

- Hurricane Sandy -

As you will recall... Search Dog Foundation was our Charity of the Month for the month of September... I thought I'd share an update i received from them via email about their good work in the NY / NJ area... 

Text & Photos courtesy of SDF

"Our Search Dog Foundation Search Teams on New York Task Force 2 have been working with Indiana Task Force 1 and Pennsylvania Task Force 1 in Long Beach (Long Island), NY, going from building to building, checking for anyone who may be in need of help.

On Wednesday, Jason Geary and Marsi completed a seven-story apartment building search. Running through the entire complex to pick up the scent of  live humans, Marsi alerted on two elderly women and another resident in two separate apartments. The two women did not hear rescuers calling out, but did find it strange to hear a dog barking. They were surprised when they opened the door to find Marsi wagging her tail wildly at the success of her "find."

SDF handlers John Stewart and Greg Gould helped throughout the day with search operations but did not work their dogs as they were with a different team and the canines were not called in."

Long Beach, New York - In the wake of the storm's wrath

"Our last major deployment in New York was after the 9/11 attacks, when 13 SDF-trained teams spent weeks searching for survivors. Our teams were also deployed to Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti and Japan earthquakes, and many regional disasters and missing person searches all over the nation. After years of intensive training, the dogs are able to focus all their instinct and high-level training on one thing: making sure NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND."

The following FEMA Task Forces are now activated for deployment following Superstorm Sandy:

Indiana Task Force 1

Maryland Task Force 1

Massachusetts Task Force 1

Missouri Task Force 1

Ohio Task Force 1

Pennsylvania Task Force 1

Virginia Task Force 1

Virginia Task Force 2

Tennessee Task Force 1

NY Search Dogs Lani & Marsi enjoy a break from searching

DEPLOYMENT CHRONOLOGY

SUNDAY: At approximately 5:00 pm EST on October 28th, three Albany, NY-based Search Teams trained by the Search Dog Foundation--Greg Gould & Kura, John Stewart & Lani and Jason Geary & Marsi--were called out by New York Task Force 2 to prepare for deployment to Superstorm Sandy. They met the other members of the Task Force on Long Island, where they prepped their gear and made plans for deployment.

MONDAY: October 29 NY Task Force 2 joined crews from Suffolk County Urban Search and Rescue making water rescues in three towns in Suffolk County. Using boats and jet skis to reach stranded households, the Task Force helped bring 70 people and 13 animals to safety.

TUESDAY: October 30 The Task Force spent time in Nassau County where there have been multiple reports of missing persons. Ten other SDF Search Teams (based in Los Angeles and Florida) were also on alert, prepared to deploy if they were called out by their Task Forces.   

THANKS for your good work,
Search Dog Foundation

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