Meet Splash: the search-and-rescue otter in North Port

NORTH PORT, Fla. —

Splash, a 2-year-old Asian small-clawed otter, is search-and-rescue certified and has already participated in more than 30 missions, with eight recoveries to his name.

“He’s very competitive. He likes to compete against the dogs,” said Michael Hadsell, Splash’s owner and a member of the Peace River K-9 Search and Rescue Team.

Splash’s role is crucial in finding missing people, especially in challenging environments.

“The only critter that is mobile that we can transport and use in different locations, that kind of trains up like the other animals do, like the dogs and the horses, is the otter,” Hadsell said.

Unlike dogs, Splash can go from the boat to the bottom of the water, making him invaluable for cold case work.

“The dog can alert from the boat, but they can’t find it on the bottom. And when you get into cold case work, the bones and the evidence are all sunk down in the muck,” Hadsell said.

Splash uses his sense of smell and whiskers, which function like a sonar system, to locate what he’s searching for.

“We found out that that whisker array on the front of his is like a sonar system, and he’s using what we call resonance frequency to find it. He knows what the resonant vibration frequency is for a human bone, and he’s honed in on that,” Hadsell said.

Once Splash identifies the target, he uses bubbles to signal Hadsell.

“He actually tastes the odor. He doesn’t smell it, particularly with the nose,” Hadsell said.

While otters have worked on cold cases before, Splash is the first to assist with recent recoveries.

“He’s doing more recent drownings and stuff as well as the cold case stuff,” Hadsell said.

Despite his impressive work, Splash is more than just a search-and-rescue animal. He’s also a beloved member of Hadsell’s family.

“He comes and sleeps at me at night, comes in around 9, and then he sleeps, gets up at five when I get up, and then, out back, and it all starts over again,” Hadsell said.

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