An 80-Year-Old Dementia Patient Lost in the Mountains Rescued in Golden Time Thanks to Police Dog

Police Dogs Deployed After Drone Search Fails
Elderly Man Found Crouching in Remote Valley
Body Temperature Low but No Life Threat Detected

An elderly dementia patient who got lost in the mountains safely returned to their family within the golden time thanks to the efforts of a police dog.

Ulsan Police Agency scent evidence dog Kal. [Image source=Ulsan Police Agency]

On the 23rd, Yonhap News reported that the Ulsan Police Agency received a report on the night of the 20th at 9:44 PM that an 80-year-old dementia patient, Mr. A, had disappeared from a house on the mid-slope of Baegunsan Mountain in Ulju-gun, Ulsan, while her husband was asleep. The police who responded to the report mobilized a drone team, riot police, detective team, and traffic team to thoroughly search the area near the residence, but tracking the missing person in the rugged mountain area without even CCTV installed was not easy.

After searching the mountain all night without finding the missing person, the police decided to deploy the police dog "Kal" to the search site around 8 AM the next day. Kal is a 1 year and 5 months old male Malinois working as a scent evidence dog in the Forensic Investigation Division of the Ulsan Police Agency. Unlike detection dogs that detect explosives, scent evidence dogs, a type of police dog, are deployed to search for crime victims, missing persons, and discover evidence.

Following Mr. A’s scent around his home, Kal found Mr. A curled up and trembling in a remote valley around 9:30 AM, about an hour and a half later. The place where Mr. A was found was between large trees and rocks in a rarely visited valley, making it difficult to find with the naked eye. At the time of discovery, Mr. A was shivering and clutching fallen leaves as if trying to keep warm, with his body temperature significantly lowered, but fortunately, there was no threat to his life.

Kim Eun-jung, a sergeant in the Forensic Investigation Division of the Ulsan Police Agency and Kal’s handler (scent evidence dog operator), said, "Since the missing person was elderly and the terrain was rugged, we did our best to safely hand her over within the golden time. We will continue to work hard with Kal to thoroughly check even places difficult for humans to search and protect the lives and safety of citizens."