Who Are We?

Search And Rescue Dog Association Ireland North (SARDA IN) is a voluntary team of highly trained Search Dogs. We are the only officially declared voluntary Search Dog asset under NISAR (Northern Ireland Search And Rescue)

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We provide qualified search dogs which are specifically trained and assessed to the highest national standards to search for persons missing in Mountains, Open Area, Trailing, Watercourses, Cadaver and Urban Search and Rescue locally and internationally.

The Search And Rescue Dog Association (Ireland North) was founded in 1979. It was initially formed as SARDA (Ireland), As the association expanded, it was determined for logistical reasons to divide into two distinct groups. Consequently, our region in the North was re-designated as SARDA Ireland North in 1983.

SARDA Ireland North is a member of Northern Ireland Search and Rescue (NISAR) which is overseen by the Department of Justice. NISAR comprises of nine search and rescue groups.
 

We are tasked by the PSNI and the primary purpose of SARDA Ireland North is to assist in the location of persons reported to be missing in various types of terrain and environment. We are tasked by and assist other Teams in search operations including the PSNI, MMRT, NWMRT, MCA, NIFRS, Gardai and CRS. Further to this our team also offers assistance when required to mountain rescue teams in Southern Ireland and other SARDA groups across the UK and Ireland. In addition we have been tasked by the Department for International Development at the Home Office to assist in international disaster search and rescue operations worldwide.