The four-legged friends of the Red Cross are training this week in Filzmoos to quickly locate buried and missing people in an emergency. A game that the four-legged friends like to play.
It is not every day that skiers in Filzmoos see a dog hanging on a long rope from the emergency helicopter: the helicopter always takes off from the cable car station and takes the dogs and their owners into the air. The animals have to get used to the sound of the rotor blades and people, because their sensitive noses are needed when snow sports enthusiasts are buried in an avalanche.
The Red Cross sniffer dog team in Filzmoos is currently practicing for a week flying emergency helicopters and detecting people under up to 40 centimeters of snow. “It’s a fun game for Cooper,” says Max Holleis, who came here from St. Johann with his mixed breed. The one and a half year old dog is whining. “He wants to do something and can hardly wait,” Holleis explains. Then he releases Cooper, who digs through a pile of snow where his colleague Mario Haslinger is holding out. “Buried person” found!
Communication without words is crucial
People and animals must be able to fully rely on each other during operations and form a well-coordinated team. “The dog handlers communicate with the dog more with their bodies than with words,” explains commander of the search dog team Leopold Slotta-Bachmayr. 26 dogs and their owners volunteer with the state’s search dog team. In 2023 there were 15 missions.
Source: Krone
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