Photo: CBS 12
When you think of divers who go into the water for search and rescue missions, you likely think of humans...but not for long.
“I'm trying to solve a problem. And the problem is that we miss more recoveries than we get working on low-visibility diving and forensic diving. And so I'm trying to put the odds in our favor so we get more recoveries. And that's what the Otter's for.”
That's right. Michael Hadsell of Peace River Search and Rescue tells CBS 12 News that Splash the Otter is helping law enforcement across the state to find human remains.
The non-profit has trained Splash, who Hadsell suggests is the only cadaver otter in the world. He has participated in over 20 missions so far and spent some time with law enforcement from Palm Beach and Martin Counties this week.
“We see a lot of innovative things with technology, AI, but we're going back to the basics of using an animal to do what they do best, and that's to go in their own environment and detect things that don't belong there.”
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek says that Splash will come in handy.
Hadsell plans on training another otter next year.