Voluntary organisation
Multiple causes
Canine Search and Rescue Team Malta
Their goal is to be a deployable light urban search and rescue team with a speciality on canine searches. Functioning under the INSARAG guidelines and readying to be internationally deployable to all countries covered by the UN.
As a sub-organisation within the Sovereign Military Order of Malta - Maltese Association, their mission as the Canine SAR (Search and Rescue) Team is to train a group of volunteers to search for and rescue people in distress in Malta and overseas. This is done with the training of canines specialised for working in this field, all of which are privately owned by volunteers. Training follows INSARAG Guidelines (https://www.insarag.org/) to ensure that they operate under international standards and established methodology. Our overall aim is to obtain INSARAG Accreditation, which will allow them to assist local authorities and to be able to deploy within Europe, Africa and the Middle East, either as a Light USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team specialized on K9 search, or as part of a larger joint Medium or Heavy USAR team such as partnering up with the local Civil Protection Department.
This fits within the Order of Malta's overarching modern-day mission, which is largely focused on providing humanitarian assistance and aiding victims of natural disasters, epidemics and war.
The ultimate goal for this work in the local scene is to become a reliable support to the Civil Protection Department in Malta. They are already collaborating through occasional joint training sessions, and the Director General of the CPD is eager to strengthen this collaboration in the coming years. Once they are accredited, they will be deployable at a moment's notice to search for missing persons, whether lost outdoors or trapped under a collapsed building.
They currently train an ever-growing team of 31 human volunteers and 13 canines, with more registrations being processed. Ages range from 16 to 52, with the majority aged 25-35. They receive interest from an average of 3 new volunteers every month through our presence at events and social media posts.
Volunteers currently dedicate an average of 8 hours per week to the cause. Whether they are canine handlers, rescue trainees, medical trainees, administrators, instructors or all of the above, the team happily contributes a combined 500 hours every month to making this mission a success. The enthusiasm, dedication and seriousness with which they complete every certification they are faced with is truly admirable, and there is one goal in their mind: They want to save lives.
