Beijing - The first civil search and rescue dog unit in China is to be launched by Beijing Blue Sky Voluntary Rescue Team, a nonprofit grassroots group under the China Emergency Rescue Alliance.

The rescue team will select eight dogs in the first batch of rescuers and provide them with professional rescue training, mainly in tracing missing people, once a week in Daxing district, the team has revealed.

"They'll go for rescue work with their owners after the three-to-four-month free training course," said Li Xingjiang, a team member. "They'll be as good as police dogs by then."

However, the free charge for the training is not the only attraction.

Li Zifei, a resident in Tongzhou district, has just signed up her Labrador, named Xiaohu.

"I want to join the rescue team with Xiaohu after its training," said Li. "I'll be so proud to contribute a little bit to social welfare."

Sunday was the last day for applying yet Li Xingjiang is still receiving calls from interested people.

"My phone is blowing up with calls about the qualifications for it," said Li.

He said dogs and their owners need to meet strict standards to become members of the team, including endurance, adaptability, vitality and physical capacity, but the most prominent is devotion to the public good.

"We set up the civil search and rescue dog unit to better serve the people," said Li Xingjiang. "The most important qualification is willingness to help."

The history of search and rescue dogs dates back to AD 950 although the first time dogs were used in rescue work in China was during the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in 2003.

According to Li, with their excellent sense of smell, dogs can play an important role in finding missing people in a disaster.

The Beijing Blue Sky Voluntary Rescue Team is considering holding such rescue training for dogs twice a year in the future, if this first round is successful.

"China is generally short of dogs for search and rescue," said Li. "To have a search and rescue dog team would improve our rescue work a lot."

China Daily

(China Daily 06/20/2011 page7)