Dogs sniff out threatening landmines
Innocent people in more than 60 nations around the world face a major barrier to economic recovery, because of landmines buried by insurgent military forces, and thousands of people have been killed or maimed by these hidden menaces. Now, however, a U.S.-formed corps of more than 700 highly trained dogs holds out hope that these landmines will be located and safely defused.
With help from the U.S. Department of State, the Humane Society of the United States and the United Nations Development Program, the nonprofit, Virginia-based Marshall Legacy Institute has assembled a sizable troop of handlers and mine-detection dogs that it deploys to more than seven affected nations. In addition, the institute helps develops canine training programs abroad so that countries can manage their own detection operations for up to eight years.
The dogs are extraordinarily reliable at identifying mines. Metal detectors can't locate the plastic mines, but trained dogs can sniff minute traces of the explosives at a safe distance. Breeding, training, caring for and transporting certified mine-detection animals is expensive, though: the Marshall Legacy Institute estimates that certifying and deploying each dog in the K9 Demining Corps costs about $20,000. And although the dogs' mine-safety records are impeccable, those deployed overseas are subject to diseases that aren't prevalent in North America.
According to Loretta Ehrlund, DVM, of Heritage Animal Hospital in San Antonio,
Texas, who treats the demining dogs, the K9 troops in Sri Lanka are suffering from a form of babesiosis contracted from tickborne Babesia gibsoni that "has kept them out of commission for several months." Medication for an affected dog costs more than $1,000 a day. Nevertheless, it's important to get the dogs back on their feet because the winter tsunami that devastated the region moved mines that had been located but not yet defused. Several rescue workers have been injured by these reburied explosives.
For information on the K9 Demining Corps, check the Marshall Legacy Institute exhibit booths at veterinary education conferences, call 703-243-9200 or see http://marshall-legacy.org.