Missing!

Two rescues with an extraordinary twist

Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (RCMP) sometimes referred to as The Mounties

It was the 23^rd November 2004, and Sergeant Doug Hawkes and his German Shepherd Dog Cory were called to try to find a missing pensioner. Unfortunately, the lady suffered from dementia, and this presented several problems. The missing lady would probably be unable to assist in her own rescue, and even when rescuers were very close, she may not respond. Also, the weather was not conducive to being outside in thin inappropriate clothing; therefore, hypothermia was a threat to the elderly lady’s life. Just to add to the difficulty, dusk was rapidly approaching, and it was cold and wet.

Now, as we all know, any attempt to find a missing person, the chance of success is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of a trained dog. Cory was a general-purpose dog, experienced in finding contraband, explosives, missing people and arresting the criminal element. This sort of rescue relies on the natural ability of the dog to air scent and the handler to read the direction of the wind, however mild. The handler has to judge the most suitable places to look, ensuring the dog is downwind of these areas. Regardless of the ability of the dog, the skill of the handler is paramount, and this ability can take years to perfect. Due to the skill of both the handler and the dog, in this instance, the elderly lady was found, transferred to the hospital and survived. In the words of Doug Hawkes, without Cory, the lady would have “almost certainly perished.”

Back in time

Now let’s go back in time, to the 1930s when John Nicholson Cawsey, better known as Jack was an officer with the RCMP who was pioneering work with dogs. At this time there was no real interest within the organisation so his work with a German Shepherd Dog called Dale was revolutionary. In 1935 Jack Cawsey was a criminal investigator and was considered to be the first officer to harness the talents of a dog to assist him in his work.

On August 17th of that year, a 2-year-old Eileen Simpson had gone missing from her home in a very rural setting. Children who wander off present a special difficulty. Sensing that they are lost, they will invariably keep walking in the hope of finding their way back. Unfortunately, this rarely helps as they just keep walking further and further away, and as they are walking aimlessly, pinpointing their course becomes increasingly difficult as the distance increases.

The child’s parents enlisted the help of the local community but being a rural community this in itself presented an additional problem. With the crops at waist high it was extremely difficult to create a proper search pattern. Any one of the neighbours could have walked within a yard of the child and not even known she was there. With hope fading Jack Cawsey was called in to help.

It should be noted that this was late at night, and Jack had already done a full day’s shift, and furthermore, he needed to drive the best part of 200 kilometres to reach the site. He drove through the night and arrived the following morning. One needs to bear in mind that the automobiles of the 1930s were not like they are today. 200 Kilometres for the car of today would be an easy cruise, but 90 years ago, this was a big deal. Despite the best efforts of over 200 volunteers, there was still no sign of the lost child after 20 hours. Yet again, the missing was not dressed for the inclement weather, and there was some doubt that she was even wearing shoes.

An item of clothing was offered to Dale in the hope that he would be able to track the missing child but it was difficult as the terrain had been extensively trampled by the volunteers. Finally, after over two hours, Dale pulled Jack forward at speed, and finally, the child was found in a ditch, cold, wet, exhausted, but unharmed.

An inspiration

This rescue inspired the RCMP to develop a canine division and Jack was placed in charge of the new dog training school which continues today. It is from this school that Sergeant Doug Hawkes qualified with his dog Cory.

Now, some of you might be wondering what the connection is between these two stories that occurred 89 years apart. Well, this is it. In 1935, the two-year-old Eileen Simpson was found, and her rescue was the catalyst for the RCMP to create a dog section, which was rather fortunate, as 89 years later, the same Eileen Simpson was the lady suffering from dementia. Incredibly, when the elderly Eileen recovered, she was shown a photograph of Dale the dog who saved her in 1935. Her face lit up, and she exclaimed. “MY DOG!”

It is believed that Eileen Simpson is the only human reported to be missing to be found twice by a RCMP dog. There is probably another one in another country, but I can find no identical case worldwide.