(Christian Science Monitor) Amelia Thomas - Erez Finkelstein pulls up at Tel Aviv's central bus station and takes two containers from his pocket. "This one's TNT, dynamite, and the other's C4, plastic explosive." He approaches a bus in a long line of parked vehicles and tucks the TNT beneath the wheel arch. He then walks to a nearby motor scooter and conceals the C4 inside the engine casing. As an instructor for the U.S.-Israeli charity Pups for Peace, his job is to ensure that their highly trained squad of bomb-detecting dogs stays in top form. After just two minutes of sniffing, Cliff, a Dutch shepherd, discovers the first of the hidden explosives. "If the dogs didn't find what they're looking for at least once a day," Finkelstein explains, "they might lose interest in their work." To date, about 30 handler/dog teams have been established within Israel, with new recruits (mainly German shepherds, border collies, and Labrador retrievers) arriving for training all the time.
2005-01-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive