Funding Dilemma of Search and Rescue Dog Teams

Mountain search and rescue dog teams are mostly non-profit making, voluntary organisations. They rely on public donations in order to maintain and operate their organisations. The teams train their dogs to save lives, but how do these organisations actually survive?

A human life is priceless. It is difficult to quantify the value  of the work search and rescue teams do, however it is possible to establish the cost of such work. Search and rescue teams in the UK have done this job voluntarily for many years.

David Warden of the Search and Rescue Dog Association (SARDA) explains the difficulty of funding and says: “Funding is an issue - the people who are dog handlers are also mountain rescue team members, so their time is heavily committed, which means that it's difficult to find the time to raise funds,

“ ..it costs about £20k per year to run SARDA England in the way which we do. The bulk of that expenditure goes on accommodation for weekend courses. There are 11 such courses each year taking place in the major upland areas of England and Wales. Generally, those attending pay for their own food and SARDA pays for the accommodation.”

Mr Warden says that his organisation was the fortunate beneficiary a few years ago of the bequest of an elderly Derbyshire lady who donated all her money and property to three search and rescue dog team associations. He continues:

“A consequence of being dependent upon donations and legacies is that financial planning is difficult, since we never know when they will happen.”

The Urban search and rescue dog teams of the UK Fire Service have a different financial system.  Robin Furness of Hampshire Fire Service says that they receive some funding from the government through an agency.

“The money goes on equipment. But the dog handlers put their time in voluntarily.”

However, voluntary teams prefer to be independently funded in the UK. Mr Warden says:

“There is a resistance from the mountain rescue community in this country to being a paid service and I don't know of anyone within SARDA England who would wish it to be,

“...there is a tradition amongst climbers and hill walkers that we "look after our own". Assistance is given willingly without any expectation of payment. Where air evacuation is required, this is undertaken by the RAF, Coastguard (both of which are government funded), or air ambulance, none of which make a charge, in spite of the high cost of providing and operating the aircraft.”

The issue of funding is however contentious, Dave Fildes of SARDA says: “The government just don’t fund it. They say the mountain rescue work is responsibility of the local area not a national government thing.”

David Warden raises another, he argues, important point: “Apart from the ideology of mountain rescue being a voluntary service, we also know that if we were to accept direct funding from the government or any other body that we would also have to accept regulation from them. That is not considered to be desirable.”