April 22, 1995: Rescue Personnel Pessimistic that Survivors Will Be Found at Oklahoma City Bomb Site; Therapy Dogs Give Rescuers Emotional Uplift

Therapy Dogs International logo. [Source: Philadelphia Examiner]Rescue personnel at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing (see 7:00 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995) hold out little hope that any survivors will be found. “Our sensors are detecting absolutely no sounds of survivors,” says Dan Schroeder of California’s urban search and rescue team. “Our cameras show only death.” Rescue workers and volunteers continue to pour into Oklahoma City, and local charities report they are overwhelmed by donations of food and clothing for nearby residents whose homes were damaged, and of knee pads, work gloves, dust masks, and other equipment for the rescue workers. [Washington Post, 4/22/1995] The exhausted and demoralized rescue workers are given some comfort by a number of therapy dogs brought to the scene of the blast by Therapy Dogs International. Author and reporter Brandon M. Stickney will later write: “The more than twelve hundred workers were touched by the dogs used to comfort stressed and grieving people. Thirty dog owners brought their trained animals to the Murrah, and let them walk around for people to hold, hug, and pet.” Volunteer Larri Sue Jones later tells a reporter: “It’s something warm to hold. God knows people can use that.” Dog owner Pat Kelley is told by a worker, “I saw [your] dog and knew everything was going to be okay.” The dogs will also be used to assist the grieving family members of slain and wounded victims. [Stickney, 1996, pp. 281]