Now, the police seal

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 16

Now, the police seal

By

SUSAN ROGERS

' of AP (through NZPA) New York Police horses, police dogs and now it’s police seals. Three harbour seals, taught to retrieve guns, tools and other objects and to enter a diving bell to take a breath, showed their skills before police and public officials at a private research institute. “If that animal could jump in the East River and grab a gun or find a body, and keep my diver out of the water, I’m all

for It,” said Lieutenant Robert Hayes, supervisor of the Police Department’s underwater recovery unit, who said the department was interested in the sealtraining project. With further training the animals might also be used to find drowning victims, underwater Wreckage of aircraft or vehicles, and to deliver extra air tanks and tools from the surface to divers, said Michael Sandlofer, a spokesman for the North Wind Undersea Institute where the seals are being

trained. The 18-month-old trainee seals — a male named Stanley and two females named Raz and Sirius — dived to the • bottom of a tank of clear water to fetch a facsimile of a gun and helped a diver who plunged into the tank for the demonstration. Raz returned a dropped wrench. Stanley joined the diver in a diving bell going to the air bubble at the top of the bell and taking a breath, then returning to the water outside the belt

Some observers questioned whether the animals would be able to function in the sedimentfilled murk of the city’s East River, cluttered with cars, old shopping carts and other obstacles. But Dr Jay Hayman, a consulting veterinarian for North Wind, said this animal has better vision than humans and is adapted to colder temperatures. The harbour seal is suited for such work because it is relatively small.