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SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS AUSTRALIA
For further information, contact SARDA President Mr Julie Cowan on (03)
5975 0399 B/h or (03) 5977 7021 A/h, or visit the SARDA website at
www.angelfire.com/wizard/sarda
Overview
Search and Rescue Dogs Australia (SARDA) is a fully volunteer,
non-profit organisation based on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
SARDA provides specially trained search and rescue dogs for Australian
Emergency Services to assist in locating missing persons. As a search
and rescue team, SARDA members are a dedicated team of experienced dog
handlers who volunteer considerable time each week training their dogs
in a diverse range of emergency situations and search terrains,
including: land search (wilderness and open country), urban search,
distance air scenting, and rubble search (collapsed buildings,
landslides). Several SARDA dogs are also trained for cadaver search, to
assist the Police in locating human remains.
All SARDA members believe strongly in the community service they
provide.Team members are volunteers and assume most of the costs related
to training, equipment, maintenance and up-keep for themselves and their
dogs. SARDA receives no government support, and the team relies heavily
on fund-raising activities and the generosity of individuals, private
industry, and the community as a whole.
SARDA Goals
SARDA’s primary goal is to help save lives. To meet this goal, SARDA ‘s
objectives are:
· To provide specially trained dogs, handlers and support personnel for
the search and rescue of missing persons;
· To provide SAR dog services to Australian Emergency Services, 24 hours
a day, 365 days of the year, at no cost to requesting organizations or
the communities we serve;
· To provide training and education for SARDA dogs and members to
develop and improve those capabilities that will ensure competent and
capable SAR dog teams and operations; and
· To further the public knowledge, interest and use of search and rescue
trained dogs.
SARDA Activities
Search Dogs may be employed in a wide range of emergency situations
around Australia, including:
· Wilderness / open country search - to locate people who become lost in
the bush or country regions, including bush walkers, climbers, and
vulnerable people missing from home, such as children, elderly people,
mentally disabled people and potential suicide victims;
· Urban search - to locate vulnerable people and victims of crime
missing from home in urban centres;
· Cadaver search - to locate the human remains of victims of accidents,
suicide and criminal activities, in wilderness or urban situations; and
· Disaster search – to locate victims who are lost or trapped as a
result of man-made (e.g. explosions, building collapse) or natural
disasters (e.g. earthquakes, flooding, landslides).
The SARDA team is available for call-out to any of these emergency
situations, on a 24 hour basis, 365 days of the year.
Training: To develop and maintain an effective SAR dog team, members
engage in many hundreds of hours training, for themselves and their
dogs, in a variety of emergency and search activities and situations.
Although the basic search method used by the dog (i.e. location of human
scent and indication of the source of the scent to the handler) is
essentially the same for all situations identified above, specific
training is carried out for different conditions. Each situation
(urban, wilderness, disaster) has it's own skill requirements additional
to the common search skills. Dog handlers and most of the support
members engage in an average of 6-10 hours of training per week, most
weeks of the year. In addition, they attend periodic specialised
training workshops (e.g. First Aid, navigation skills, scent movement)
and long weekend training camps throughout the year.
Deploying a SAR dog team to assist emergency services in locating
missing persons is a serious business, as is the training of SAR dog
handlers, dogs and support members. Many hundreds of hours of training
in often inhospitable and dangerous conditions are required to make, and
maintain an operational SAR dog team. In the process, many sacrifices
are made by all members of the team, both socially and financially. As a
consequence, SARDA strives to retain the natural enjoyment and
excitement that can come from working with dogs, from camping in the
Victorian wilderness, and from searching as a group in unfamiliar
territories. This, together with the satisfaction that comes from the
prospect of finding a missing person, and/or saving a human life, makes
up for the sacrifices and hours of hard work that members endure in
their time as a SARDA volunteer.
SARDA Members
SARDA members represent a group of highly motivated volunteers who are
dedicated to assisting in the search and rescue of missing persons.
There are currently 15 SARDA members, 6 active dog handlers with dogs
and 9 support members. Members come from diverse backgrounds and bring
with them a wide range of skills that contribute, directly or
indirectly, to SARDA activities. The current SARDA team, for example,
includes members who have extensive expertise in the training & trialing
of dogs in the disciplines of obedience, agility and tracking, members
with training in fire protection and emergency response, and members
with expertise in team dynamics and human psychology.
The six active dog handlers are at various levels of expertise, ranging
from novice to internationally qualified SAR dog instructors. Recently,
three dog handlers travelled overseas (at their own expense) to extend
their experience and training in SAR dog activities, and gain
international qualifications.
SARDA support members play vital roles within the organisation, engaging
in such duties as administration, search and rescue support,
fund-raising and acting as training ‘bodies’ for the dogs. The value of
the contribution given by the support members can not be overstated and
they are as much a part of the SARDA Team as the handlers and the dogs,
themselves.
Member Training
All SARDA volunteers are provided with extensive training. Dog handlers,
engage in training in emergency procedures and the use of emergency
equipment, survival and navigational skills, advanced search and rescue
dog handling methods, canine and human First Aid, and personal fitness.
Where a handler is lacking any required skills, SARDA provides
educational training opportunities for the handler, either through
external courses or through the transfer of skills internally within the
team.
SARDA support members are able to engage in most aspects of training
that is provided to dog handlers, on the basis that they may decide to
work as a dog handler in the future. As support members play an
important role in an actual search operation, all support members
receive extensive training in operation management, emergency
procedures, survival and navigational skills, and First Aid.
For more information, see the SARDA website at www.angelfire.com/wizard/sarda
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