1010 WINS 9/11 Series: Rescue Dogs Honored For Efforts After Attacks

NEW YORK (1010 WINS)-- As we remember those lost ten years ago on September 11th, and honor the first responders, the American Humane Association paid tribute this week to the dozens of search and rescue dogs who served in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

1010 WINS' Susan Richard Reports

K-9 teams from across the country were deployed at Ground Zero and the Pentagon immediately after the attacks. No dogs were sent to Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

American Humane provided a mobile veterinary clinic in lower Manhattan, delivered supplies for displaced pets and K-9 working dogs at a staging location in Brooklyn. They were later present at the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, where K-9 recovery teams searched for human remains.

"We've been at disasters since 1916," American Humane President and CEO Robin Ganzert told 1010 WINS. "When the U.S. Secretary of War asked American Humane to go overseas and rescue the Cavalry horses who were impacted by that horrible warfare."

On Thursday September 8th, American Humane held a star-studded gala at the National Arts Club in Manhattan, featuring celebrity pooch Rin Tin Tin, along with actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg and Animal Planet's Victoria Stilwell.

"These dogs go in and they know they have to find someone… they were amazing animals who did work we couldn't do," Goldberg told 1010 WINS.

Catch the highlights with 1010 WINS' Susan Richard  in the special video report below:

Also among those at the event, Port Authority Police Officer David Lim, whose K-9 Sirius died in the attacks.

"The other anniversaries that have gone by haven't affected me as much as this one", said Lim, "It's almost like reliving a lot of it."

Sirius' remains were recovered in January of 2002. Hundreds attended his memorial in Liberty State Park, and later a dog run in Battery Park City was named in his honor.

Learn more about American Humane, at americanhumane.org and read about the 9/11 search and rescue dogs in the book Dog Heroes of September 11th, Tenth-Anniversary Edition by Nona Kilgore Bauer (Kennel Club Books, June 2011).