Our hearts go out to the many thousands of people and pets in Japan this week affected by last week’s earthquakes, and tsunami.
At the APSE we felt the need to contribute to the relief effort and have chosen to offer our support by encouraging pet sitters to donate to the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF).
The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, a non-profit founded in 1996, was formed to partner rescued dogs with firefighters and first responders.
Their mission is to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters. They provide trained canines to fire departments at no cost, and provide lifetime care for each dog. The SDF currently has 74 trained search teams in the US that have been part of 75 deployments including the World Trade center attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti disaster, and now the Japan earthquake disaster.
Six SDF Canine Disaster Search Teams were deployed to Japan on March 12th and will be traveling to the devastated Ofunatio City area on the North East coast of Japan where the skills of the canines are critically needed to use find people trapped in the rubble.
Each Task Force is composed of approximately 72 personnel, including Urban Search and Rescue canines, and some 75 tons of rescue equipment.
In 2011 the SDF is forming 21 new Canine Disaster Search Teams to meet the critical demand for this life-saving resource, at a cost of $15,000 per Canine-Firefighter team.
You can help support the vital work that the search dogs perform by donating to the Search Dog Foundation at their website http://www.searchdogfoundation.org.
SDF also relies on the assistance of volunteers across the USA to help raise funds, write and research stories for their newsletters and website, work with the media, and screen dogs. You can also help by adopting one of their wonderful retired work dogs and giving them a loving forever home.
Ultimate Loyalty: Japanese Dog Refuses to Leave Injured Friend Behind
This video is nearing 10million views!
Further Reading:
Dogs are Part of Rescue Effort in Japan
Read on http://www.statesmanjournal.com/
I was surprised and please to see the photo of firefighter Gary Durian and his search dog, Baxter, on your blog. I am a volunteer with Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue in CA (www.hbgrr.org). Baxter was a Homeward Bound rescue. We evaluated him and realized he would be a perfect candidate for searh and resuce…and he is. He and Gary have been deployed to numerous disaster areas, including the Haiti earthquaake, where he found survivors, to Japan. We’re so proud of Baxter!