Highlighting the need for dedicated Search and Rescue Volunteers
The cases of Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck, two boys kidnapped and recently recovered in Missouri, highlight the need for specialized canine-based search and rescue teams across the nation that are able and willing to respond without advanced notice to emergency situations. Unfortunately, most search and rescue teams are composed of volunteers, meaning these dedicated people (and dogs!) work without compensation. They are often called in the middle of the night and the early hours of the morning, rising out of bed to answer the call of their emergency pagers. Dogs work in rugged and often extreme terrain, in snow, hail, or even in 110 degree temperatures. Often, dogs that are injured or become sick as a result of their SAR work aren't covered by any county or city insurance, so their volunteer owners and handlers often end up footing the bill.
Any relatively able-bodied person with a dog and enough time has the ability to get involved with SAR work. Please consider getting involved if you have the time, resources, and commitment. If you think SAR might be for you, visit http://www.nasar.org/nasar/specialty_fields.php.
An another, non canine-related note... someone has apparently purchased the domain benownby.com. The registrant seems to have used a privacy service listed as follows:
Domain name: benownby.com
Administrative Contact:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc. privacy-157540@domainprivacygroup.com
Toronto, ON M2N 6L9
Registrar of Record: Netfirms Inc.
Record created on 2007-01-10.
We're not entirely sure who took this domain or why, but it's obviously created very recently, approximately two days before the boys' recovery. The site does not appear to be anything the family would have created, though of course it's possible. We hope it's not some unscrupulous domain-squatter hoping to capitalize off this tragic situation.