Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Boy rescued by Fish & Game dog

Child, age 2, lost for 3 hours

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By EXPRESS STAFF

Two-year-old Rudy Kasel wandered lost for about three hours two miles from his Rogerson home, south of Twin Falls, before being found by Pepper, a 3-year-old black Labrador trained for wildlife detection and human tracking.

Pepper was trained by Jim Stirling, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game senior conservation officer in the Magic Valley. Pepper is certified for article searches and human tracking by the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training Academy.

Rudy had been playing outside with his sibling when his family realized he was missing about 4 p.m. on Monday, April 30. They called for help after efforts to locate him failed. Rudy's parents initially thought he had wandered away with other family members.

Searchers were concerned because of the approaching darkness and storms forecast for the area.

Stirling received a call at 5 p.m. from the Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office requesting the use of Pepper.

Rudy's father marked the area where he thought he located a possible footprint. By 6 p.m. the search was organized, and Pepper led Stirling through the dry sagebrush for about an hour.

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"The dog was struggling in the heat and pollen, so we took a short break to rehydrate," Stirling said. "The dog looked up, and that's when we saw Rudy's head bobbing in the sagebrush about 100 yards away."

It was just after 7 p.m.

About 30 people from the Twin Falls County Sheriff's office, County Search and Rescue, Fish and Game, and other agencies took part in the search east of Rogerson.

Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com

Local search dogs

Blaine County Search and Rescue uses rescue dogs of its own, including Labrador retriever Yaquina and Airedale Terrier Rockee. For more on these two rescue canines, search their names on our website, www.mtexpress.com.

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