May 30, 2018 at 3:10 pm
By Corporal John MacDonald, Maine Warden Service
Seven of Maine’s nine Warden Service K9 teams spent the past two weeks in Otisfield, becoming trained and certified in the unique discipline of human remains detection (HRD). For game wardens in Maine, search, rescue and recovery missions are the heart of their work. When incidents involve lost or missing people who are suspected to be deceased, the latest skills and certifications learned by Maine’s game wardens and their K9 partners becomes particularly important for bringing closure to surviving family members and the investigation.
Instruction for this training was administered by retired Rhode Island State Police Sergeant, Matt Zarrella, who owns American Patriot K9 Training in Rhode Island. Zarrella, a 25-year veteran with the Rhode Island State Police, retired as the agency's K9 Team Commander. This two-week training exercise included land, water and swift water settings. The K9 teams were certified in human remains detection (HRD) under the International Police Dog Association. The HRD training takes advantage of the hyper-sensitive olfactory glands found in a dog’s nose. By comparison, these glands are said to be able to smell about 500 times greater than humans. The Maine Warden Service has nine K9 teams, two of which received training from Zarrella in this discipline of recovery work previously.
Due to the demands of this specialty team in previous years, having more certified K9 teams in HRD will allow the Maine Warden Service to provide better detection skills with searches for lost and missing people that are conducted across the state. With all Maine Warden Service K9 teams now trained in HRD, response to these types of calls can be better managed. The discipline of HRD here in Maine is not common among law enforcement K9 teams. In fact, the Maine Warden Service now has more dogs certified in this specific discipline than any other agency in Maine.
Retired Sergeant Matt Zarrella takes this training very seriously and has devoted much of his life to this important work. Zarrella stated that “…it has been a great honor for me to share this training experience with the Maine Warden Service. The [Maine Warden Service] program is top notch. The commitment to send their entire team to this two-week training program is admirable.”
[gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="2905,2903,2902,2900,2927,2928"]
Instruction for this training was administered by retired Rhode Island State Police Sergeant, Matt Zarrella, who owns American Patriot K9 Training in Rhode Island. Zarrella, a 25-year veteran with the Rhode Island State Police, retired as the agency's K9 Team Commander. This two-week training exercise included land, water and swift water settings. The K9 teams were certified in human remains detection (HRD) under the International Police Dog Association. The HRD training takes advantage of the hyper-sensitive olfactory glands found in a dog’s nose. By comparison, these glands are said to be able to smell about 500 times greater than humans. The Maine Warden Service has nine K9 teams, two of which received training from Zarrella in this discipline of recovery work previously.
Due to the demands of this specialty team in previous years, having more certified K9 teams in HRD will allow the Maine Warden Service to provide better detection skills with searches for lost and missing people that are conducted across the state. With all Maine Warden Service K9 teams now trained in HRD, response to these types of calls can be better managed. The discipline of HRD here in Maine is not common among law enforcement K9 teams. In fact, the Maine Warden Service now has more dogs certified in this specific discipline than any other agency in Maine.
Retired Sergeant Matt Zarrella takes this training very seriously and has devoted much of his life to this important work. Zarrella stated that “…it has been a great honor for me to share this training experience with the Maine Warden Service. The [Maine Warden Service] program is top notch. The commitment to send their entire team to this two-week training program is admirable.”
[gallery columns="2" size="medium" ids="2905,2903,2902,2900,2927,2928"]
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