Annual report 2024
REDOG helps buried and missing people: by providing training for teams with search and rescue dogs as well as specialists in technical detection. Official agencies and private individuals can contact REDOG around the clock on 0844 441 144.
Our work in 2024 primarily involved deployments following weather catastrophes at home and abroad. The Annual Report provides an overview of our activities during 2024, both in Switzerland and abroad.
Environmental catastrophes
Catastrophes are unplanned and unpredictable. In summer 2024, severe weather ravaged valleys in three regions of south Switzerland. At the end of October, Spain experienced severe flooding. People lose their homes. People lose their social environment. People lose their lives. People go missing.
The fear and desperation of the families whose loved ones are missing must be unimaginable. Assisting these people and doing everything humanly possible to find the missing persons: that is our motivation. REDOG was deployed with its teams of search and rescue dogs.
Switzerland
In three regions of south Switzerland, severe weather devastated entire villages in summer 2024. First in Valle Mesolcina, then just two weeks later in Valle Maggia, and a few days later in the Binn Valley. From across Switzerland, 13 dog handlers and their dogs travelled to Grisons, to Ticino, and to Valais along with four team leaders and two experts in technical detection.
Missing persons
Almost 5,000 people go missing in Switzerland every year. For a wide range of reasons. Often, they are elderly persons who have dementia or are confused. Or people on a tour, mushroom pickers, people on excursions who are caught out by bad weather in the mountains. In many cases, they return to their families. However, if a person is still missing, their survival often depends on them being found quickly.
In 2024, the REDOG teams and their dogs were deployed a dozen times in Switzerland because a family member had informed the police or REDOG directly. These cases of missing persons receive little coverage in the media. It is important that these persons are found. Even if they are already deceased. So that their relatives can say goodbye.
Spain
At the end of October 2024, the region of Valencia in Spain experienced massive flooding. Over 200 people died, many others are still missing. It was the task of the REDOG search and rescue dogs, together with the specialists in technical detection, to locate the missing persons. Almost three weeks after the catastrophic floods, there was little hope of finding missing persons alive. However, so that their families can say goodbye, it is important that the persons are recovered.
Training of REDOG Team
REDOG, the Swiss Association for Search and Rescue Dogs, is the only Swiss organisation that provides comprehensive training for dog and handler rescue teams for missing and buried persons.
Useful information on training
For training in searching for buried persons, REDOG relies on practice areas that are as realistic as possible. These may be, for example, building demolition sites or practice areas for the Swiss Army or for Swiss civil protection.
REDOG trains teams at its own National Training Centre, located at a quarry in Ostermundigen near Bern. Experience gained during deployments means that new challenges can always be recreated. In autumn 2024, REDOG celebrated the end of an intensive reconstruction programme which coincided with the 10-year anniversary of the National Training Centre.
In 2024, 9 teams successfully completed training in area searches. 4 teams achieved deployability in the discipline of tracking dogs. With 58 teams and 90 search & rescue helpers, REDOG has a dog unit that is on standby to search for missing persons in Switzerland.
Our area search teams train where people are located: hiking and biking in the foothills of the Alps, collecting mushrooms in forests, walking in the city. Training takes a lot of time. It usually takes between two and four years for a team consisting of dog handler and dog to be ready for deployment. When they achieve deployment capability, this must be regularly confirmed with examinations. REDOG thus ensures that the deployed teams meet the high quality demands.
To establish deployment capability, the teamwork of the dog and the handler and their success in finding hidden persons and items are assessed over one day. They must demonstrate their skills in the technical areas of orientation, first aid and mountaineering technique.
Image gallery
Area search
Search & Rescue
Tracking Dogs/Mantrail
In 2024, 13 teams successfully completed training to become a rubble search team. One team achieved deployability in the discipline of cadaver searches. 8 specialists in technical detection can now be deployed. The REDOG standby team comprises 58 teams for rubble searching, 3 teams for cadaver searching and 13 specialists in technical detection.
Training for the demanding, and often dangerous, task of searching for persons buried under rubble following an earthquake, for example, takes a long time. The REDOG members train for three, or often even four or five years, and then demonstrate their skills and knowledge for deployability during a two-day examination.
Over eleven different rubble areas within the Swiss Army training village, they have the task of locating “victims” - REDOG members who are hidden under the rubble - and providing first aid on site for persons and for the dog. The deployable teams must also pass a suitability test each year, repeat the deployability test every three years, and must obtain consent from their employer as they may be called out from work in case of emergency.
Image gallery
Rubble search
Cadaver search
Technical detection
Facts & Figures 2024
824
volunteers got involved from across Switzerland in 12 regional groups.
110,985
hours of unpaid work were carried out by REDOG volunteers in 2024. They train for deployment in a terrain or rubble search. They work for the association. They train young members who benefit from their experience. They help in the organisation of training, test preparation and as assessors.
241
dog handlers, search & rescue helpers, team leaders, and also specialists in technical detection are on standby.
17
deployments were carried out by REDOG search and rescue dog teams in 2024, both in Switzerland and abroad.
1804
training sessions took place during 2024 in the 12 regional groups in the disciplines of area search, mantrailing, person tracking dogs, search & rescue, technical detection, and also searching for living and deceased persons under rubble.
2000
paws train with our dog handlers for deployment in searching for missing or buried persons.
Institutional donors and partners
REDOG can only carry out its work thanks to the valuable support of numerous authorities, companies and foundations. In this context, a film was created in 2024 which shows our collaboration with Land Rover.
Governance and Finances
Organisation and Management 2024
REDOG is a charitable non-profit organisation and the umbrella organisation for 12 regional groups.
Finances 2024
The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Swiss GAAP FER (specifically FER 21) recommendations for accounting and the Zewo guidelines.
Our values
Using dogs to save lives – minimising suffering
REDOG is a humanitarian search and rescue organisation. We help disaster victims and missing persons and their families in accordance with the fundamental principles of the Red Cross.
International and national cooperation
Joint training with partner organisations and personal contact are essential for optimum collaboration. REDOG maintains intensive contacts in Switzerland and abroad.
In 2024, we celebrated our 10-year partnership with the Turkish aid organisation, GEA.
Further information
10 years of partnership between REDOG and GEA