The aid workers in Nepal have recently acquired two new four-legged member of the rescue team, in the form of four-year-old service dog, Yumenosuke and his partner, Golden Retriever, Haruku.
Brought over with the Japanese emergency aid team, the former stray Yumenosuke has already made headlines in his home country, when he successfully alerted rescue teams to two people who had been trapped under rubble during a mudslide, saving both their lives.
His handlers are now hoping he will be able to provide the same help in Nepal, where survivers are still being found.
Yumenosuke story is especially powerful given his rocky past – as a former stray, the pup was set to be put down by authorities before ‘Peace Winds Japan’, a non-profit organization, recruited him as part of their team of rescue dogs – on the very day he was set to be killed.
The NPO is hoping to raise awareness of Japan’s stray dogs, after a report showed that almost 30,000 were put down in 2013 alone.
References
1 ITV