MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) – The Martin County Sheriff’s Office enlists the help of an adorable otter for an important job on the force.
“Splash” is a 2-year-old Asian small-clawed otter that poses for photos on Instagram and has a particular set of skills to help rescue teams.
“In Florida, we have a problem with alligators; they grab remains and they stuff them somewhere and they are very hard to find because most of the time we’re diving in water that is less than two inches of visibility, so everything is tactile, so we miss them, we can’t find them. He doesn’t have that problem; he can go right down there and show us where it is,” said Michael Hadsell, the president of Peace River K9 Search and Rescue, a nonprofit organization that provides specially trained animals in recovery missions.
Splash has undergone specialized training as part of a dive team for Peace River K9 Search and Rescue to search for human remains.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek believes Splash’s unique talents in the water will be a major asset in cases involving individuals lost in bodies of water.
“Yes, we will, again, we have one or two missing individuals a year that are in bodies of water, and if we can’t find them immediately through regular diving techniques, we absolutely will do that,” Budensiek.
So far, Splash has succeeded on four missions and has gone on more than 20 alongside officers.
“I’m trying to put the odds in our favor so we get more recoveries, that’s what the otters are for,” said Hadsell. “I think we’ll be good at 10 years for him, then he’ll retire as the coach and watch Animal Planet, I guess.”
Splash is expected to have a work life of up to 10 years.
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