Hard and dangerous work of dogs in the ANAMA

Baku/03.08.21/Turan: In August this year only, the State Agency for Mine Clearance of Azerbaijan (SAMCA) on 634 ha of the liberated land has neutralized 455 anti-personnel, 70 anti-tank mines and 503 unexploded shells. On 10.11. 2020, total 4,575 ha were cleared, about 24.000 dangerous military products neutralized.

When reading these lines, everyone will remember with gratitude the sappers who risk their lives daily under the scorching Karabakh sun. Two SAMCA employees were blown up during their work, but there was no threat to their lives, so they returned to service after treatment. Few people think about the danger for dogs looking for mines in a row with snappers. In an attempt to save the animals from a heat shock, Every two hours of work, the dogs are taken to the shade for rest.

Until recently, there were 38 special dogs in SAMCA, 20 of them work as sappers. The SAMCA breeding center opened in the Goygol regional training center breeds dogs for official use, they are trained in the sapper service. It takes two years to train such dogs. In addition to the bomb disposal dogs at SAMCA, 4 dogs are trained to search for explosives. These dogs are mainly involved in searching explosives in destroyed houses, abandoned cars,etc. - a representative of the agency reported last year. There are females whose purpose is to give birth to new offspring. More often, sheepdogs are used for mine work, but dogs of other breeds, mongrels included, are also used.

In August this year, the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) handed over 10 dogs to SAMCA trained to search for mines. By July 2023, the Institute plans to donate 20 more mine-detecting dogs to Azerbaijan for demining the liberated territories in Karabakh.

It has to be kept in mind that the cooperation between the SAMCA and  the Marshall Heritage Institute has been ingoing since 2018 when a group of SAMCA dogs were awarded by this Institute and titled as "Collective of the year 2018". By the decision of the Institute's jury, the prestigious award for  clearing mines and saving people's lives contribution was awarded to the SAMCA candidate Vahid Mammadov and his mine detector dog named Eskimo. In the event in honor of the 21st anniversary of the Institute, an award ceremony was held for a group of laureates attended by US officials, congressmen, and diplomats.

It should be noted that Vahid Mammadov serves in the regional base of the agency located in the village of Goradiz, Fuzuli region where mine-detecting dogs are managed. The second dog training base is located in Geygel. The head of the SAMCA press service, Farida Ashralova, explained to Turan the procedure for admitting new trained dogs to practical work. This nomenclature will be used for dogs from the United States.

The guides will pass exams together with the dogs, and both the guide and his dog should receive positive marks in each pair - separately. If one "failed", then the pair is not allowed to mine. The essence of strict exams lies in the fact that in a human-dog pair, full mutual understanding is very important. The newly acquired dogs will pass the exams at the end of 2021.

Added to this can be that the guide must know the mood, habits of the dog, the language of its movements in order to feel when she is worried being unsure of her actions. This happens when the enemy uses special methods of deception against dogs - they throw food to dogs, use new explosives, the smell of which is unknown to dogs. Also, they set dangerous traps against dogs," a Russian sapper who worked in Syria told the press.

There was a report in the press about the preparation of new drones in Israel that can determine the places of buried mines from a height and put these coordinates on the map. The Israeli expert reported that the new equipment is being tested, it can be delivered to Azerbaijan.

Also, Ashralova noted that they had not received an official offer from Israel about mine-detecting drones. There is information about the possibility of cooperation between the SAMCA and various foreign companies, but no specific actions have so far been made.—0—