Search and rescue teams from Croatia have headed down south to Albania to aid in the recovery of people in the damage left by the earthquake that recently rocked the country. Among the team are experienced Croatian rescue dogs.
As Index writes on the 27th of November, 2019, Croatian rescue dogs have gone to seek out, track and rescue the victims of the tragic earthquake in nearby Albania, they left Croatia and will remain in Albania until further notice.
HUOOP’s Bojana Šantić gave Index some information about the association itself and their work, as well as the names of search teams helping out down in Albania.
“HUOPP has fifteen active search teams – the search team is made up of a guide and his search dog. As members of the International Search Dogs Organisation (IRO), all of our teams take one of the toughest exams on the International Mission Readiness Test to be licensed to go to international missions. In addition, another specificity of our association is that we specialise in searching in urban areas (large scale disasters, earthquakes). – through various training and exercises, and simulations of real situations and actions.
The Croatian search teams currently in Albania all have Croatian rescue dogs with them. Their names are Tanda, Gizmo, Inu, Dharma and Farhana.
All of the Croatian rescue dogs are between three and eight years old and have been being trained for this type of work since they were puppies.
The Croatian teams responded to a call for mobilisation by the Directorate of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, which arrived in the morning, and within just a few hours, the teams and their dogs were in helicopters and en route to Albania.
”We think it’s important to note that, with their high level of training, HUOPP teams are always on standby, which the general public is not sufficiently familiar with,” added Šantić.
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