Swiss rescue operations mix old and new
We’ve all heard about the Swiss dogs who venture forth in the Alps to rescue people.
Well, these days the dogs have a little bit of help.
Capo, a golden retriever wearing a bright orange rescue harness, runs with his handler in tow towards a body sprawled in the high grass as a giant drone whirrs overhead.
The scene was part of a simulated dog rescue operation this week aimed at highlighting the rapidly growing use of drones to help speed up and expand such searches in Switzerland.
The exercise took place on Wednesday, the same day as a massive landslide on the Piz Cengalo mountain in the Swiss Alps that left eight people missing and triggered a search-and-rescue mission where dogs and drones were deployed.
The article states that there are cooperation efforts between the dog people, represented by the Swiss Association for Search and Rescue Dogs (Redog), and the drone people, represented by the Swiss Federation of Civil Drones. (Almost sounds like ham radio there.)
In fact, one Redog person put it this way:
This allows us to have an eye in the air and a nose on the ground.
tymshft 