How a couple of B.C. rescue dogs became heroes in Venezuela

Two rescue dogs Rueben (left) and Pele joined members of Burnaby's Urban Search and Rescue team to look for survivors after two deadly earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24. Photo by Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue

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Had it not been for two well-trained B.C. dogs, the story of how a Venezuelan toddler was pulled from the rubble six days after two powerful earthquakes hit that country may have ended tragically.

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But thanks to Pele, a seven-year-old Dutch Shepherd, and Reuben, a six-year-old Belgian Malinois, two scrappy rescue dogs from Burnaby, the boy was found alive.

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Pele and Reuben made the long journey to Venezuela last week along with seven of their human counterparts from the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue Team.

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“Our dog team is definitely the star of the show,” said Ryan Berry, a member of the team who went to Venezuela.

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Two rescue dogs Rueben (left) and Pele joined members of Burnaby’s Urban Search and Rescue team to look for survivors after two deadly earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24. Photo by Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue

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The mission was to join other international canine and rescue crews to help find anyone who may still be trapped, and to search for those who died to help bring closure to families still looking for their loved ones.

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Two powerful 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck within a minute of each other on June 24, toppling buildings and killing thousands of people. CBC reports the death toll had risen to more than 3,500 as of Wednesday.

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The Burnaby team went to the La Guaira area north of Caracas, where they searched more than 30 sites. There, Pele and Reuben helped find 35 people, three of them still alive.

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At one of those sites, the dogs — both trained to distinguish between people still alive and bodies — started barking in a way that indicated to the handler that there was a live person nearby.

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Photo provided by Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue shows the aftermath of two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela on June 24 and June 25. Photo by Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue

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A team of Venezuelan firefighters were about to give up on the site because they had not heard anything. But then Burnaby’s team offered up Pele and Reuben.

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As soon as the dogs reached the site, they both barked to indicate a live find, said Berry. The human crew then used technology to pinpoint the exact location of the person.

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The Burnaby crew worked with the Venezuelan team for a couple of hours until they passed off the operation to a larger team from the U.S.

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They later learned that a three-year-old boy had been pulled from the rubble, weak but alive.

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“The dogs’ handlers were emotional,” he said. “It’s a hard situation to describe. Every site we were going to had people who were covered in dust digging with their bare hands trying to find their family. So it recharged our batteries, I would say, and confirmed that we were helping, that we were on the right path, and it motivated us to keep going.”

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The boy, identified by Reuters as Klieber Moran, was rescued early on Tuesday, and was reportedly the only survivor found on the sixth day of rescue efforts.

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“Our team is small — seven members — so we didn’t have the resources to carry out the full extrication ourselves. But our dogs finding that person is what kept the site from being left behind,” said Berry.

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Berry added that they worried about the heat, so gave the dogs a lot of breaks in air conditioned vehicles.

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Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue has about 33 members, all first-responders such as firefighters, police officers or paramedics, and they are all volunteers. Anyone who wants to donate to help the team can do so at burnabyusar.ca.