Mick McCarthy - In Search of the Missing: Working with Search and Rescue Dogs

Don and I were raring to go, to get into the thick of it, anxious to do our bit for search and rescue. The first shout came when a farmer went missing on a mountain between Castleisland and Ballydesmond. We were called in with other members of SARDA among them Neil Powell two other searchers from Northern Ireland and one from Dublin. By then, the farmer had been missing for a number of days. The missing man lived on the opposite side of a mountain to his daughter, and climbed the mountain every Friday to visit her as part of his weekly routine. When he failed to turn up on one particular Friday during the summer, she sensed he was in trouble and reported him missing.

Local volunteers and Civil Defence members were searching on the mountain when we arrived on a fine, bright afternoon. As all of our SARDA dogs worked by air-scenting, we needed the mountain free from all human scent other than that of the missing man, and we asked the garda to clear the mountain of all other searchers and climbers before we could begin. Around 4 p.m. we started. We prepared to do a line search by spreading out about 400 yards apart. All of the dog handlers climbed up in a straight line and worked the dogs by sending them in a zigzag direction, over and back between opposite handlers. The mountain resembled a rounded hill. The climb was steep and the going was tough as the ground was boggy and covered in heather, with much forest growth in the valleys. We knew that the locals had carved out their own pathways up the mountain, but these were not obvious to us. More than likely, the farmer followed the exact same path every Friday, but we had no idea where it might be.

We continued to climb, though with no inkling of which direction the farmer might have taken. Every now and again, the handlers contacted each other on their walkie-talkies, especially when they felt it necessary to strengthen up on certain areas or ease off on others. Dex and I had almost reached the top of the mountain. By then, I was probably about a quarter of a mile from the nearest handler. On the mountain peak, Dex indicated. When I went to investigate, I found a man walking along the top. When I asked him what he was doing up there, he said he was looking for the missing farmer and knew him well. He also said he knew the area inside out as he often hunted there with the harriers. I pleaded with him to leave, and explained that we couldnt carry out a proper search if he stayed as the dogs would keep coming back to him, but he insisted on continuing to look for the missing man. I accept that he was a well-meaning member of the public, but because of his presence there was no point in our combing further through that particular area. I contacted Neil and told him I was coming down.

We searched until 8 p.m. before calling a halt, as the garda were expecting the arrival of 150 local volunteers to carry out a line search. Neil advised the garda that the locals should begin their search down at the point where we had finished. I suggested that they start high because the man would have been trying to go over the mountain. Just one hour later, the missing farmer was found on the top of the mountain, only a hundred yards from where Dex and I had stopped searching. He was lying on his back in an open plateau of ground with his hands crossed on his chest, laid out perfectly, almost as if he knew his end was near. As little dots of blood were found on his body, the detectives were called in to check him before the removal of his remains.

The volunteers came back down from the mountain, while a garda made his way up to stay with the body until the detectives arrived. The handlers climbed up to the scene with their dogs, with the Civil Defence following close behind with a stretcher. When we reached the top, the dogs indicated. But only the two German shepherd s, Rizzo and Dex, dared go near the body. Dogs react differently to the scent of a dead body. Eiger, my retriever-collie-cross, was also with our group. When he entered the scent cone, he jumped back suddenly as if he had been hit by an electric fence.

We said a prayer over the deceased and remained with him, waiting for the arrival of the detectives. On examination of the body, they quickly ruled out foul play as they found that the spots of blood had been caused simply by exposure to the wilderness. The man had died of a heart attack.

Dex and Rizzo had taken part in their first search operation since qualifying in Cumbria.