For 25 years, Natalya Drozhzhina, head of the canine unit of the emergency rescue team of the Emergency Situations Department of the East Kazakhstan Region, has served in the ranks of canine handlers. The work of rescuers and dogs is a responsible one – they search for people and rescue them from debris caused by natural and man-made disasters.

By the canine rescuer's own admission, her love of dogs was the main reason that brought Natalya Drozhzhina to work at the emergency rescue team of the Emergency Situations Department of the East Kazakhstan Region. And working side by side with her are her "colleagues" – the purebred Brittany Spaniel Pulya and the Labrador Gel ya.

As the Emergency Situations Department notes, canine rescuers conduct special training sessions with the animals, and canine teams undergo annual certification for authorization to perform their designated duties. According to the specialists, where human capabilities are limited, the keen hearing and phenomenal sense of smell of dogs come to the rescue.

– We constantly improve our professional skills and exchange experience by participating in competitions at various levels. A canine rescuer is not just a profession, and a rescue dog is not just a dog. Human fates and lives often depend on how well-coordinated the work is. There were searches when we combed the area for several days and, together with the dog, searched for a person. The rescue operation ended successfully. The task was accomplished – the lost mushroom picker was found, – says Natalya Drozhzhina, head of the canine unit of the emergency rescue team of the Emergency Situations Department of the East Kazakhstan Region.

The work of the experienced canine handler, her four-legged partners, and the entire unit is an example of the fact that even in the age of high technology, emergency situations cannot be handled without either human involvement or four-legged rescuers.

Olga SIZOVA,
special correspondent of "YUG" for the East Kazakhstan Region
Photo by the Emergency Situations Department of the East Kazakhstan Region