To help find the bodies of drowning victims, a Florida sheriff’s office has enlisted an otter named Splash, claimed to be the country’s first official “search and recovery” otter.
Splash brings a unique set of skills and natural abilities to the job, such as being able to see well and detect scents underwater, the sheriff’s office in Martin County, Florida, stated.
Splash’s services will be offered through his handler and trainer Michael Hadsell, from Peace River K9 Search and Rescue.
In Wyoming, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team is sometimes called out to search for bodies in Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
Sweetwater County probably isn’t going to adopt an otter and hire a trainer, sheriff’s office spokesman Jason Mower told Cowboy State Daily.
But if there were an otter trainer in Wyoming, the sheriff’s office might call and ask for help, he said.
In certain situations, an otter’s natural swimming and underwater detection abilities might be just what’s needed.
“We’re skeptical of (using) wildlife, but I’m not counting it out, because it does make a lot of sense,” Mower said.
Money, Man-hours To Consider
While having an otter and trainer available on a contract basis might make sense, the sheriff’s office keeping an otter full-time would not Mower said.
The animal would need a habitat to live in, food and veterinary care.
Such expenses can add up fast, “as we know all too well from having a K9 program,” Mower said.
The K9 program also involves all the man-hours and expenses that go into training and certifying the dog handlers. It likely wouldn’t be worth it to make that sort of investment to certify a deputy as an otter handler, he said.
Technology Replaces Critters
With advances in technology and machinery, there’s been a general move away from animals, Mower added.
“Collectively, as a profession (sheriff’s offices and search and rescue teams), we moved away from using horses,” he said.
Instead, ATVs have become common.
And drones have also been a game changer, he said.
Drones can search much farther and wider than ground crews, without the expense of using helicopters, he said.
Technology can be shared among departments and agencies, he said.
For example, when searching for a plane crash site, Sweetwater County Search and Rescue called for help from the Utah National Guard, which has Apache helicopters equipped with night vision, Mower said.
Cadaver Dogs Can Detect Bodies In Water
Even with all the equipment and gadgets available, an otter might fit the bill for an underwater search, particularly if it was available at a moment’s notice, Mower said.
Top-notch sonar equipment for underwater searches exists, but it’s expensive, and available only through other agencies or private contractors, he said.
In September, state-of-the-art sonar helped searchers find a body believed to be that of Wesley Dopkins, 43, 420 feet down in Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, too deep for an otter to dive.
Dopkins went missing while kayaking on the lake in June 2024.
Likewise, Flaming Gorge Reservoir is too “vast and deep” for an otter to reach some sections of it, Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle told Cowboy State Daily.
Moreover, cadaver-sniffing dogs can still sometimes conduct underwater searches.
In some instances, dogs can be taken out on boats and can smell “the process of decay” of a human body bubbling up to the surface, Grossnickle said.
But in shallow water near shore, “we would certainly entertain” the thought of using a search and recovery otter, Mower said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
