Landmine Detection Dogs
During the four years (1999-2003) that I was involved with training, instructing and working Landmine Detection dogs, I lived in a number of villages where families had survived through the wars. The stories that were told to me over a cup of coffee were heart breaking.
- A woman returned to her village to rebuild what was left of her home, with her only belongings –two head of cattle and her old dog.When she tried to take the cattle to graze in the land beside her home the old dog would not let the cattle go to graze. He persisted on keeping them close to the house. After a while she was talking to the other local people about her dog and what he was doing. She found out that the grazing land was full of mines. The dog knew.
- During a heavy rainstorm two fishermen found shelter in an old railway tunnel.One of the men stepped on a mine; the other man was thrown and seriously injured. Deminers found them the next day. The deminers cleared the area all around the bodies, till they reached them. They did not realize another mine was underneath the body. Upon trying to remove him, it exploded. Three of the deminers lost their lives.
- One village in Croatia had a 50 x 100-meter piece of land on the outskirts where they would grow their vegetables or fruit.After the war was over and before any demining companies were scheduled to go there, one farmer that made the newspaper had gone out to this piece of land, knowing there were mines in his garden area. He painstakingly prodded on his hands and knees to remove them. He recovered about 40 or 50 mines by himself. The whole community applauded him.
- Then there were the sadder ones. Four 10-12 year olds were playing in and abandoned village, they found a mortar and were throwing it around in play and it detonated, seriously injuring all of them.
- In Bosnia-Herzegovina a farmer hauling wood out of the bush took the same path every day, with his horse and cart. One day the horse happened to go off the path about a foot. The back wheel of the cart hit a land mine and detonated it. Both horse and farmer were spared but the cart and wood were in pieces.
- Just 2 years ago a family of five returned home to rebuild their home and were killed by mines in their front yard.
No matter what area I lived in there were stories of past years, and it will continue to be real until all the mines are clear from their countries. Every year there are still injuries and death due to landmines. Will it ever be possible to clear them all? Maybe, but only with hard work and dedicated people.
The instructing and teaching of the local deminers to handle and maintain their dogs in demining for their country was very rewarding.
One day they hope to have a mine free country.
Contact us for more details on our work with Landmine Detection Dogs.