Hyderabad: The crucial breakthrough in the rescue and relief operations at the SLBC tunnel, which collapsed on February 22, came on Sunday, thanks to the help of specially trained dogs of the Kerala police.These canines, called human remains detection (HRD) dogs, or cadaver dogs, found a place in disaster-related operations in India after Kerala’s top cop Loknath Behera saw their skills during a foreign trip. He found them to be a right fit for Kerala police as the state witnessed frequent flooding and landslides.The first set of two dogs, Maya and Murphy, belonging to the Belgian Malinois breed, were brought to Kerala Police Academy in March 2020 from the Punjab Home Guards, when they were seven and six months old, respectively. The third dog Angel was brought from the Sashastra Seema Bal, Alwar, Rajasthan.Maya was officially introduced into the force first, becoming the first cadaver dog in India.Each of the three dogs have undergone nine months training and have an excellent track record in detecting human remains after natural disasters. They have successfully detected 24 bodies so far, police officials said.According to Prabhath D., the handler of Murphy and Maya, the canines had to face their first challenge during a landslide at Pettimudi in Munnar while they were being trained on August 8, 2020.Prabhath, who holds subedar rank, and works at State Dog Training School (SDTS) of the Kerala Police Academy, said that they used the methods used in the most advanced countries to train the K9 force.During nine months of training, they use the remains of human teeth, human blood and cadaverine and putrescine to train the dogs in detecting cadavers from natural disasters.The Kerala State Dog Training School also trained dogs for the National Disaster Relief Force, which will be deployed within six months, Prashanth said.- Maya, Murphy and Angel belong to Belgian Malinois, widely used by police and security forces, including in operations agains Osama bin Laden.- The K9 trio has detected 24 bodies in Kerala and one in SLBC tunnel.- They are popular as police, assistance and search and rescue dogs.
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