A Labrador retriever deemed too pleasant to turn out to be a drug-sniffing canine has made a reputation for himself as a star of Taiwan’s earthquake restoration efforts.
Roger, 8, is one in every of 4 search and rescue dogs despatched to smell by means of the rubble of this month’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which left at least 16 people dead. Last week, the canine situated the physique of a 21-year-old lady in Hualien County, the quake’s thirteenth confirmed demise, The New York Times reported.
Roger had a winding highway to success. As a puppy, he was supposed to be educated as a drug detection canine for customs, but it surely quickly grew to become clear he was not reduce out for that form of work, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The young canine was merely “too friendly and boisterous” for the duties required, his now-handler, Lee Hsin Hung, advised the Times.
The identical qualities that made Roger ill-suited for drug sniffing made him a promising search-and-rescue candidate.
“The requirement for narcotic detection dogs is that they can’t be too restless and independent,” Chen Chih-san, captain of the Kaohsiung Fire Bureau’s rescue canine unit, told CNN. “But [these attributes] are what we want in rescue dogs.”
That character is an enormous a part of what’s made Roger a media sensation. He’s stolen the present on information segments by grabbing the microphone or tearing up a stuffed toy with gusto. Per the Times, Roger has turn out to be a chat present visitor and media in Taiwan have branded him a “little hero.”
Roger has been part of seven search and rescue missions previously 4 years, however is ready to retire as soon as he reaches age 9, CNA reported, noting that the fireplace bureau will discover an adoptive home for him.
Related…