K-9/11

Today is the 25th year anniversary of 9/11. Whether you witness the tragedy yourself while in New York City, watched it live on TV from the news around the world, or are seeing the video footages for the first time, I think what we can agree on is that it is one of (if not) the most devastating events that has happened on US soil.

Not only the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), New York City Police Department (NYPD), and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnels were at the scene throughout the incident, more than 300 search-and-rescue dogs were deployed to find survivors buried in debris. However, as the hours passed by, it soon became clear that the rescue mission turned into a recovery mission. To reduce the loss of motivation, handlers do a "mock find" to make them feel successful. That wasn't the only role that the search-and-rescue dogs played, they also (unintentionally) played the role of therapy dogs for the human rescue crew.

Sadly, the last known surviving 9/11 rescue dog passed back in 2016. However, according to a study, the rescue dogs who took part had minimal health issues and lived longer than the average lifespan of their breed as they were physically active and engaged.

Like their human emergency and rescue worker counterparts, these dogs were heroes throughout the dark times of this tragedy.

Never forget.

Used Krea 2 Turbo, ChatGPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, NovelAI Diffusion V4.5 (Full), and Photopea for the image.