The work of an important team of volunteers – both human and canine – was highlighted last week.
Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs is an organisation that’s on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to assist search and rescue teams, Thames Valley Police and other emergency services.
Its primary role is to assist with locating lost or missing vulnerable people within Berkshire and the surrounding areas.
Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs is the largest Lowland Rescue dog team in England, with 22 operational members and 28 dogs who are either qualified and operational, in training or awaiting requalification.
A coffee morning took place at the Bradbury Centre in Rose Street on Friday to raise much-needed funds, and to provide visitors to get to know more about the group, as well as meeting the four-legged heroes.
The group has been selected by Cllr Sally Gurney, Wokingham town mayor, as her charity for the year.
She told Wokingham Today: “I wanted to support an animal charity, and one where I can make a difference. They do so much great work.
“The mayor’s charity usually manages to raise somewhere in the region of £5,000, and I know that amount can make a real difference to them.”
She added her thanks to Cook, Aldi, Tesco, Sainsburys. Co-op and Morrisons for their kind donations for the coffee morning.
Ro Facer, secretary, said funding was the biggest challenge for the group.
She said: “It costs us about £10,000 a year just to stand still, with costs including training, storage, clothing, radios and other equipment.”
The group can be called on as much as 50 times every year to help search for vulnerable missing people.
Otto, a labrador who is celebrating his tenth birthday this week, has been a qualified resume dog for more than eight years.
He is an ‘air scent’ dog, meaning he will find any human in a specific search area.
Ro explained how a lot of their searches involve people with dementia.
“One of our dogs was called to a care home and given a scent item of a missing person. The dog checked all of the exits and did not indicate anything.
“The handler made a big statement based on the lack of an indication, saying they did not think the person had left the home due to the fact the dog did not show an interest in any of the exits.
“The care home conducted another search and the missing person was found inside a cupboard.”
She added that was a great example of a ‘trailing dog’ where there is a known point of departure.
Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs are always looking for volunteers and supporters. You can even donate to sponsor Otto or one of his friends.
For more information visit. www.k9-sar.com.
