K-9s brave mud in Mt. Province

MANILA, Philippines - Stanley struggled through thick mud and rubble searching for survivors in the avalanche of mud in Barangay Kayan in Tadyan, Mountain Province.

With Stanley’s help, soldiers recovered five bodies late Tuesday afternoon. Relentless rain brought by typhoon “Pepeng” loosened the soil in this mountainside community, causing a landslide that buried dozens of houses and their occupants.

It’s all in a day’s work for Stanley, a five-year-old Labrador Retriever from the Philippine Army’s K-9 unit.

Stanley and at least eight of his canine friends have been deployed in devastated areas with the mission to look bodies in muddy graves.

Stanley’s handlers said the dog was instrumental in locating the bodies of Elisa Celino, Resly and RJ Bansil, Jason Bacsa and Victor Balteng.

“In the process of search and retrieval, sometimes they chance upon dead animals that were also buried by the landslides. They work, or should I say play, tirelessly in the operations,” said Maj. Ferdinand de la Cruz, chief of the army’s K-9 unit.

He said dogs don’t consider tracking humans or sniffing bombs work. After each task, all they want is a simple reward like a ball to play with.

“What is work for us is play for them, but they greatly help us in our operations,” he said.

Cruz said eight other tracking dogs have been deployed to Rizal, which is still reeling from the aftermath of tropical storm “Ondoy.”

One of the significant accomplishments of Stanley was his discovery of the body of murdered US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell in Battad, Ifugao in April 2007.

“Stanley may just be an ordinary looking Labrador Retriever but this dog has been a great help in our anti-terrorism and disaster relief and rescue operations,” he said.

Cruz said K-9 dogs have a powerful sense of smell that is many times greater than that of human beings.

It was 2nd infantry division chief Maj. Gen. Jorge Segovia who, as commander of the intelligence and security group, revitalized the K-9 unit of the Army.