Sunday Times 2
Soldier Rohan and dog Spartacus win international award
Sri Lanka Army Sapper D.K.N Rohan and mine detection dog (MDD) Spartacus were honoured with the “Mine Detection Dog Team of the Year” award by U.S.-based international humanitarian organisation Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI).
“In the last six months, this incredible team has searched more land than any of the other teams in their unit, finding numerous explosives and landmines, and saving countless lives,” MLI stated in a press release. “MLI was very pleased to honour D. K. N Rohan and MDD Spartacus for their courageous working in helping to free the world of the scourge of landmines.”
Sapper Rohan and Spartacus were chosen over 950 teams from all over the world, Brigadier Dhananjith Karunaratne, who accompanied the team to Washington, DC, said.
 MDD Spartacus and DKN Rohan accepting their award as MDD Team of the Year (to left) the high school leaders from Texas that raised the funds for Spartacus |
 MDD Spartacus during the MDD demonstration at the Gala at Fairmont Hotel in Washington DC. |
Spartacus, a three-year-old Belgium Shepherd or Malinois dog was donated to the Sri Lankan government by MLI. Since 2004, MLI has provided MDD dogs to the government purely for humanitarian mine detection programmes, Brigadier Karunaratne said.
The dogs are sponsored by donors, and Spartacus was sponsored by schoolchildren at Seven Lakes School in Katy, Texas.
“The dogs come here with basic training and we have a MLI foreign trainer here to provide advanced training,” Brigadier Karunaratne said. “The handlers stay with the dogs all day to build up a good relationship. The MDD dogs get training for about three or four months on the field and we submit regular reports to MLI on their progress.”
Spartacus and Sapper Rohan have been working together for about a year and a half de-mining the North, mainly the Mullawittu area. The Army currently has five MDD dogs on the field, seven are undergoing training and 12 are retired.
“Truly, because of the support of MDD dogs for a rapid de-mining programme we were able to speed up the Menik Farm resettlement process,” Brigadier Karunaratne said.
Over 50 percent of war casualties during the Elam war were caused by small mines.
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