America


with laser-like accuracy; Axel, a chocolate-and-vanilla mutt with a nose for contraband; A starved-for-affection stray named Dusty, and; Sherman, a massive Labrador nick- named The Shermanator. Some of those brought into the pro-


gram were rescued hours before they were set to be euthanized, like Ace, whose adoption sheet listed him as “unsalvageable.” Another dog named Recon had


been sprayed with mace and left for dead on the train tracks. Cody was returned to a shelter seven times before the age of two. A buckshot- riddled stray was left on a Memphis highway. But Melville’s sharp sense of the


dogs’ potentials worked beautifully along with her determination to for- ever change the face of search-and- rescue in America. Ana, Dusty, and Sherman became


the canine heroes during the 9/11 res- cue effort in New York — fearlessly wedging themselves through moun- tains of steel, mortar, and ash to search for survivors, to locate bodies, and save rescuers from further peril in the wreckage of the World Trade Center where 2,973 lost their lives. “One evening, the rescuers were


called forward and lined up as Pres- ident George W. Bush came by to pay his respects and thank the res- cue workers,” Melville recalled. “The president made his way down the line and reached Dusty first. He gave her a good ear scratching.


32 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2019


ALL SMILES! Search and rescue dogs George, Noah, Chief, and Lilly take a break while Clancy (above) learns how to use his keen sense of smell to locate victims trapped beneath a pile of rubble during a session at the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Del Valle Regional Training Center.


“Ana, who doesn’t like to be second


in anything, immediately got jealous and lunged forward to get her share of attention. Her enthusiastic charge shoved Dusty out of the way and rammed the president right between the legs! “The president laughed it off and


gave both dogs an equal share of atten- tion.”


Four years later, Melville’s crew


helped save lives in the flooded-out shell of New Orleans following Hur- ricane Katrina, and went to eastern Texas and western Louisiana as Hur- ricane Rita hit. During the latter, trainer Rob Cima


watched in shock as 100-mph winds whisked his dog Harley off his feet and somersaulted the pooch across an open field like a tumbleweed. The dog finally managed to regain his footing and made it to safety. And in 2010, Melville’s canines


were flown to Haiti to aid in the search for victims following a massive earth- quake that claimed about 230,000 lives. In the smoldering wreckage of Port- au-Prince, a Border Collie named Hol- lywood Hunter because of his mov- ie-star demeanor, became an instant hero, “bounding, bouncing from stone to stone like his feet were rubber,’’


Melville says. Hunter and other canines burrowed


through four floors of 10-inch concrete to locate a woman pinned against a mattress — alive and unharmed. In total, they saved 12 people. Melville’s dream of having 168


trained rescue teams was finally real- ized in 2017 and she now has a vision of creating a “disaster dome,” a build- ing in which the conditions of actual disasters can be replicated for train- ing purposes. As she plots that project, Melville


enjoys the company of Newton and Darwin, her two Chihuahua-Dachs- hund mixed-breed pets. Melville’s co-author Paul Lobo


says, “If training rescue dogs has taught Wilma one thing, it’s that there is always hope. And that when you have the right dogs, nothing is impossible.” The Search Dog Foundation has


raised more than $27 million in pri- vate donations since 2010 and now operates a national training center on a sprawling 125 acres of donated farmland in the rolling foothills above Santa Paula, California.


For more information about Melville’s organization or to donate, go to www.searchdogfoundation.org


ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SEARCHDOGFOUNDATION.ORG


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