RONCO in the News: Archives

Canine Corps Sniffs Out Bosnia Mines

By LAURA T. COFFEY © St. Petersburg Times

DOBOJ, Bosnia-Herzegovina, October 8, 1999 - For a Dutch shepherd, Carry has quite a resume.

Born in the Netherlands, educated in Texas and put through the rigors of a finishing school in Bosnia, the 4-year-old black dog has one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: She routinely spends at least four hours a day sniffing out land mines in minefields all over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

	RONCO mine-sniffing dog in action in Bosnia.

When Carry's sensitive nose detects the smell of explosives, she stops, sits down and looks expectantly at her handler. Her reward is a rubber ball, which she gnaws happily while the human experts prepare to detonate the mine in place. Carry is one of about 50 mine-sniffing dogs being used to locate the estimated 1-million land mines laid during the Bosnian civil war from 1992-95. Only about half of the mines are in known locations.

Since January 1996, land mines have claimed more than 1,200 victims, injuring more than 920 people and killing nearly 300. So far this year, mine accidents have injured 23 people and killed 22, including two children.

"The whole of Bosnia is one big minefield," said Almir Budalica, data entry manager for the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine Action Center in Sarajevo. Budalica said it will take at least another 10 to 15 years to "clear just the priority areas."

Months of training

	Dog Handler field training in Kosovo.

It takes 12 to 14 weeks to prepare a dog to go overseas, followed by eight to 10 weeks of intensive training with the dog handler in the country where the dog will be working, Hayter said. By the time a dog is ready to hit the minefield, its cost has reached $20,000, a huge expense for many poor countries. Wealthier nations and private groups often donate dogs for demining work. Not just any dog can be tapped for the job.

"Most of our dogs come out of Holland and the Czech Republic," Hayter said. "They just have better working dogs there. You really need a dog that wants to work."

Removing 400 mines

"We just removed 400 mines from that field in one month!" he exclaimed.

Markovic and his driver crossed the border into Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb statelet, and entered Doboj. Muslims made up about 40 percent of Doboj's prewar population, but today the town is inhabited almost entirely by Serbs who eke out an existence in one of the most heavily mined parts of the country.

The driver headed down a badly pitted road past overgrown brush and burned-out, gutted houses and parked near a minefield where Carry was working. She and her handler, Radomir Ponjarac, were carefully making their way through a field impregnated with anti-tank mines.

All demining work stopped when the visitors arrived, and Carry sat obediently at the feet of Ponjarac, her closest companion for the past 2 1/2 years. Ponjarac then had Carry demonstrate her mine-sniffing routine on a cleared piece of land. As he gently cooed commands in Dutch, Carry walked in a straight line and sniffed with unwavering concentration. When given a cue, she sniffed her way back to Ponjarac in another straight line.

So far, demining workers had located 23 anti-tank mines in this field. Carry and another shepherd, Bart, found more than half of them.

"It's very nice to see the dogs work," said Marihkovic Momcilo, a team leader for Unipak Demining. "It's almost impossible to believe that an animal is able to do this."

Ponjarac says he works with Carry four hours a day. If they're not in a real minefield, they're training in a mock one. During their time off, Ponjarac says he takes Carry swimming: "She's crazy for water."

Carry will likely be given to Ponjarac as a gift when she stops working at age 8 or 9, the typical retirement age for demining dogs.

While most demining dogs make it to retirement safely, accidents do happen. Since January 1996, mine accidents have killed 27 and injured 64 of the 1,400 trained demining workers in Bosnia. Just one of those accidents was caused by a dog.