EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A German Shepherd who is trained to sniff out human remains is now in El Paso, ready to get to work.
The dog, Titan, is working with the Texas Rescue Patrol out at Red Sands. He is a 4-year-old dog who has been training to sniff out bodies his entire life.
“When you’re alive. we all have different scents,” said Ammie Zachow, Titan’s trainer with the Texas Rescue Patrol. “When we pass away, we all have one —and he is trained to find that one.”
KTSM 9 News met up with the Texas Rescue Patrol on Saturday while Titan was working on training exercises in Far East El Paso.
A fake cadaver filled with real human remains could be seen lying in the desert. When Titan was released, he was able to pick up the scent and find the fake cadaver within minutes.
“It also cuts down on a lot of time and resources for us humans out there,” said Zachow. “They’re able to find that deceased human out there a lot faster.”
The Texas Rescue Patrol is hopeful that Titan can bring closure to El Paso families whose loved ones’ remains have yet to be found.
“I think he’s going to help out here, and in the surrounding areas, find a lot of people that have been missing for a long time. I’m hoping that we can help a lot of families out here,” Zachow said.
While Titan is ready to get to work, Texas Rescue Patrol officials said they are working with local authorities to have him work on specific missing persons cases.
“Having that capability is something that we haven’t had in the past and, as you know, we’ve done a lot of searches out here for different types of incidents,” said Jamil Moutran, chief with Texas Rescue Patrol. “And having a dog just will help us to comb through the areas and kind of thoroughly check smaller areas that we might have missed.”
