World Trade Center Attack
September 11, 2001
On September
11th America witnessed the worst terrorist attack in our nation’s
history when the World Trade Center was destroyed and 2,819 people were
killed. A call was sent out nationwide by the
Federal Government for the most highly trained canine search teams to
help at the disaster site.
SDF responded, providing 13 teams—a third of the FEMA advanced-certified
canine search teams deployed at Ground Zero. The deployment posed
the most challenging search environment our teams had yet faced, but
their high-level training proved to be invaluable under the difficult
conditions.There were reports of non-SDF dogs being injured during the
search at Ground Zero with burned or cut paws. Not one of the Foundation's
FEMA Certified dogs was injured. Why? Because of the SDF
dogs’ arduous, ongoing field training. Our dogs' paws could
withstand the irregular, shifting surface of the rubble pile because
they work weekly on rubble, all year round, which prepares their paws
for rough conditions. Also, the dogs and handlers knew how
to avoid dangerous spots, because they'd done it all in training.
It
is heartwarming to know that many of the SDF dogs that worked at the
World Trade Center were themselves rescued. Professional training
brought them to a high level of proficiency, so that they were prepared
for this type of deployment.
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