Scent-Tracking Dog Recovers a Missing 70-Year-Old Man Near a Volcano, And Now the Hiker Wants to Adopt Her

K9 Trina of the Hawai’i Island Police.Credit: hawaii police department

David Arai, 70, was reported missing after he was last seen in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Trina, a K9 Labrador retriever, joined the search for him with her handler and helped conclude the seven-hour effort

“And if she ever retires and is looking for an adoption, [Arai is] open,” his son, Kaohe, said of Trina

A senior man is home safe after a K9 police dog sniffed out his location.

Just after noon on Oct. 19, Hawai’i Island police officers received word that a missing man had been last seen near a volcano at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park more than 24 hours earlier, the police said in a press release. The man was later identified as David Arai, a 70-year-old who frequently hiked in the area, KHON2 reported.

Arai’s son, Kaohe, told KHON2 that it wasn’t unusual for his father to hike alone and that he knew the area’s trails well.

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.Credit: google maps

Based on “information obtained during the investigation,” including Arai’s age, police classified him as “endangered” and ordered a search of the area, per the press release.

Police located Arai’s rental vehicle in the national park, but found no sign of him. Authorities launched an aerial search with a Hawai’i Fire Department helicopter before enlisting Trina, a K9 with the Hawai’i Police force.

Trina, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever, “is trained as a live-find human tracking canine,” police stated. She’s previously helped search for missing children and other adults in peril throughout Hawai’i, including a missing endangered teen in Waikoloa in September.

Joined by her handler, Officer Christopher Ross, Trina searched the national park diligently. Just over seven hours after Arai was reported missing, Trina located the older adult about two miles from his rental vehicle, and officers safely transported him back to the trail’s start.

“The conditions were pretty bad going down that trail. And the first thing I noticed, I saw the top of his head, and he was slightly off trail in the bushes, like pretty much laying on his back,” Ross told KHON2. “We led up to him, just wanted to make sure he was okay, and Trina, when she got next to him, she licked his hand basically to let him know that we found him and that he’s safe.”

K9 Trina of the Hawai’i Island Police.Credit: hawaii police department

Arai was then taken to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, where he was monitored and treated for dehydration and exposure.

After the rescue, Kaohe said his father is “extremely grateful” to the police department and the rangers who helped facilitate the effort, especially the K9 unit and Trina, who found him.

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“And if she ever retires and is looking for an adoption, he’s open,” Kaohe told KHON2. “He said he fell in love with that dog.”

“I don’t think there’s any words to describe it,” Ross said of Trina. “It’s a blessing just having this dog. It really is. Like my last thought, last before I fell asleep, was that we truly have an angel on our hands.”

Source: Nature