A hero search and rescue dog has posthumously been awarded the prestigious PDSA medal for his duty and service during an impressive 11-year career.
Barra, a Spring Spaniel, sadly died at the age of 14 earlier this year and has now become the 43rd recipient of the PDSA Order of Merit, which is the animals equivalent of an OBE.
Barr specialised in searching for the bodies of missing people underwater alongside his handler, Iain Marshall. The 57-year-old and Barra helped located missing people on waterways across the UK and was often requested personally by families who were searching to find their loved ones.
Many families were reunited with the bodies of those they lost thanks to the work of Barra and he’s now been given a special reward.
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We exclusively revealed last year about how a campaign to have the dog honoured was hijacked by conspiracy theorists online who sent more than 2,000 messages to the Lord Provost of Glasgow demanding she recognise the animal.
The dog’s handler, Mr Marshall, had nothing to do with the campaign, but Barra will now be given a medal for his work, three months after he died and two years after he retired from service because of mobility issues.
Mr Marshall said: “I am absolutely over the moon that Barra has received the PDSA Order of Merit posthumously.
“We never did any of this for recognition in the form of awards or medals, we did it to help families who needed us but none the less, we are delighted to see Barra’s commitment to search and recovery being recognised by PDSA in this way.
“Barra was an incredible Search and Rescue Dog but also a loving and important member of our family – we had an incredible bond and I miss him every day.”
The award has now been given out to 31 dogs and 12 horses with Barra being the latest of those. He was born in Wales to a litter from a local police dog and was then brought to Scotland by Mr Marshall.
A volunteer coastguard, he wanted to do something more to help families affected by people lost in waters and helped train Barra to become Scotland’s first underwater sniffer dog and a year later was joined by another Springer Spaniel – Eriskay – and the trio became K9 Search and Recovery.
The volunteer trio worked across the UK and helped families hold funerals for loved ones by locating their bodies.
Jan McLoughlin, Director General at PDSA, added: “We’re incredibly proud to be honouring Barra posthumously with the PDSA Order of Merit.
“Barra’s outstanding devotion to duty and service to society was demonstrated time and time again throughout his decade-long career, and his exceptional skills went above and beyond that of normal companionship, making him a very worthy recipient of the PDSA Order of Merit.
“Awarding the PDSA Order of Merit to Barra posthumously is a fitting tribute to his lifetime of dedication and hard work.”
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