PHOENIX — Dogs are often used to help in search and rescue missions. Their noses can pick up a human’s scent from as far away as a half-mile, and sometimes farther, according to the American Kennel Club.
One Arizona otter is now being trained to sniff out evidence and victims in underwater settings.
"If (a body) gets into a canal or river and an alligator gets to them before we do, the gator will take the remains and stuff it somewhere, and it makes it very difficult to find. The dogs get us into the area but they can't get us from the boat to the bottom," Mike Hadsell, a veteran search and rescue diver and president of Peace River Search and Rescue said. "The otters get us from the boat to the bottom to show us exactly where the remains are located."
How is this possible?
Otters are believed to be the only mammals that can smell underwater.
"I had read an article that said that otters were the only mammal to have odor detection underwater, so I kept thinking 'Why can't we get these guys to work for us, is it possible to do that?'" Hadsell said.
Not only is it possible, it's working.
Splash is an otter born in Arizona that was recently donated to Peace River Search and Rescue in Florida. He is still being trained but is already helping solve crimes.
While at an active scene recently, Hadsell was persuaded by searchers to put Splash in the water to help.
"So, he sniffed out the scent and went down to it, threw a marker and the diver went in and there it was," Hadsell said.
Jeff Beals, the aquarium coordinator at the Wildlife World Zoo in the West Valley, Splash's original home, said he knows otters have the skills for the job.
"Not only can they smell items underwater, they can also pick up on cues, on trails, smell trails," Beals said.
Otters don't actually smell water. They smell their own breath under the water which is an interesting process.
"It's a bubble technique. What they'll do is go underwater and expire a breath cycle. So, exhale inhale, exhale inhale, shooting a bubble and pulling it right back in about 10 times a second. That allows them to more or less taste the water, smell the water."
Hadsell is working with Splash daily in his pool. He hides scents and Splash usually goes right after it.
In the next couple of months, Splash should be fully trained to help divers go directly to victims and evidence.
Skeptics once questioned the idea but now, using a search and rescue otter doesn't seem so crazy.
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