K-9 Disaster Relief

VIII. FEMA Canine Helps Alleviate Stress of Disaster Victims

The role of canines in Urban Search and Rescue operations during disasters is well known, but a different role for them is being used in several current disaster areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has sent dogs to disaster areas in Florida, West Virginia, and Georgia to provide encouragement and solace to people affected by the storms.

Buddy, a friendly, disaster relief Golden Retriever, along with his handler, Frank Shane, traveled to West Virginia's Northern Panhandle flood disaster area after their return from Punta Gorda, Fla., the area hardest hit by Hurricane Charlie. Jake, a black Labrador Retriever who is trained to find people in the wilderness or in collapsed structures, is in Georgia with his trainer, FEMA employee Mary Flood.

Buddy's visit to the Florida Panhandle represents the first time FEMA has officially included a disaster relief canine as part of its disaster work force. When Hurricane Charlie hit Florida, the Salvation Army requested canine assistance. The manager of FEMA's Disaster Recovery Center in Punta Gorda worked with the Salvation Army to provide canine services for their applicants. The success of that effort led FEMA to sanction officially Canine Disaster Relief as a method for relieving anxiety among people suffering emotional stress.

In Florida, West Virginia, and Georgia, Shane and Flood have visited disaster areas, with their dogs on hand to nuzzle people-young and old-and distract them a bit from their immediate concerns.

Shane, of Upper Montclair, N.J., teaches courses in Canine Disaster Relief Services and Critical Incident Stress Management. He calls Buddy "a live teddy bear," emphasizing, "Canine disaster relief is psychological first aid and does not involve therapy."

Jake was rescued by his trainer from a pound; and with Flood's patient assistance and years of strenuous training became, at age seven, one of six American finalists competing for the 2003 Canine World Hero Award sponsored by the National Association of Search and Rescue. He and Flood have taken part in more than 25 wilderness search and rescue operations.

Both dogs participated in 9/11 canine disaster relief efforts at Ground Zero at the World Trade Center in New York City.