The life-saving skills of specialist dogs from Northern Ireland will be offered around the world through a new partnership with a major airline.
Search And Rescue Dog Association Ireland North (SARDA IN) is a key first responder to major disasters at home and abroad.
The organisation was set up by Co Cork man Neil Powell in 1978.
Neil, who moved to Newcastle, Co Down, with his wife many years ago was part of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team but wanted to train dogs to help during searches too, and so SARDA IN began with its first canine helper — a German Shepherd called Kim.
Neil and SARDA IN have helped deal with global tragedies through the years, including the Lockerbie disaster of 1988, when a passenger plane exploded over the Scottish town.
Eleven people died in Lockerbie in addition to the 259 passengers and crew on board the New York-bound plane which had set off from Heathrow. (A new TV drama about the bombing airs on Sky Atlantic from January 2.)
Neil had been involved in recovering body parts from the disaster for five days.
“It was a very difficult time for all of us who were involved in that,” he explained.
“Back then I got in touch with the police and they got me an RAF helicopter; there were two others who came over from Northern Ireland as well.
“I’ve also helped with two earthquakes in Turkey and one in Algeria. In all of those cases, I had to depend on luck and goodwill, and it was always the RAF who stepped up and flew us. But to get from here to a staging post in the UK was always a challenge and I had to rely on whoever was available or whoever was prepared to take us.”
Search And Rescue Dog Association Ireland North (SARDA IN) representatives with EasyJet staff
But now a new partnership with budget airline EasyJet, which serves 21 UK airports and flies to more than 120 destinations, will enable SARDA IN dogs to travel in the cabin on selected flights.
Neil added: “Now, if there is a tragedy anywhere in the world, we can just get on the phone to EasyJet and get on the next available flight, which will be that day.
“Because in an earthquake, for example, the golden window is 36 hours from the moment of impact. The highest percentage of survivability is within that period; thereafter it tails off dramatically, so we have to get there really quick with the dogs.”
Through the partnership, the important pooches will be allowed to fly free of charge in the cabin along with their handlers, which can reduce the stress and potential risks associated with their transportation, ensuring the dogs can be deployed quicker and more efficiently to disaster zones and critical incidents.
“This is so tightly controlled by EasyJet in that if the plane is travelling somewhere or other and it’s already full, passengers will be told to leave, in order to make way for the dogs and their handlers, and they will be put on a separate flight at a later time,” Neil explained.
“That’s how important this is. We’ve also been given a special 24-hour booking policy, which means that we have a separate number to contact EasyJet at any time, day or night, in the event of a major incident, and they’ll accommodate us.
“We have 16 dogs qualified at the minute and they’re all trained to do different things. We have three dogs qualified to do what’s called trailing work, so they’re sense specific. If somebody goes missing, those dogs sniff an article of their clothing and that’s the only person they’ll know to follow.
“They’ll do that reliably up to 24 hours after a person goes missing and they can work anywhere.
“We have five dogs separately trained to work in collapsed buildings, such as with earthquakes. They’re a mixture of Border Collies and Labradors and a German Shepherd.
“We have three dogs qualified to search for people that are dead, so they’re cadaver dogs. And we have dogs trained to work in open mountain areas; they are more non-specific and they go out to search for any living person if they get upwind of them.”
Neil Powell and pooch
SARDA IN is run by volunteers. Neil, who is now in his 70s, was a science teacher for 30 years and has a doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast, which is related to dogs, scent and epilepsy.
“Our training officer is the manager of the children’s cancer retreat in Newcastle, and we have a paramedic and a nurse… There’s a whole array of different talents within SARDA. We’re very lucky,” he continued.
“We were out three times on Friday and once on Saturday and then the guys had to go to work after being out all night.
“We are very lucky, I think, in the north, with so many good people who give up their time to help other people. Despite all the negativity you hear, there is so much goodwill amongst everyone here.”