SWFL K9 Search-And-Rescue Team In Danger Of Shutting Down Over Budget Shortfall

ENGLEWOOD, FL — For 20 years, Peace River K9 Search and Rescue’s team of volunteershaven’t hesitated to step up and assist the greater Southwest Florida community in emergency situations - everything from searching for missing children to helping in the aftermath of hurricanes.

Now, the non-profit organization is in danger of shutting down because of an unexpected budget shortfall, founder Mike Hadsell told Patch.

“This year has been unbelievable, the cost increases that have happened,” he said. “We’re pretty good at fundraising and budgeting. Then this year, at the end of the year, we started getting slammed with a bunch of horrific bills.”

The cost for their 911 callout system doubled while insurance costs jumped more than 500 percent to more than $6,000.

“What happened here? We’ve never filed a claim in 20 years,” Hadsell said. “We’re fundraising and stuff, but we’re getting hardly any donations at all. We’ve had to cut back on operational stuff and traveling too far for cases.”

Finally, earlier this month, he shared the organization’s state on social media.

“71 days until shutdown,” he wrote in an Oct. 19 Facebook post.

Hadsell told Patch, “I said, ‘Look, we have 71 days left and we have to shut down. When Jan. 2 rolls around, if we can’t make the insurance payment, we’re not operating.’ That was a big wakeup call for people.”

Since then, a donor has stepped up to pay for next year’s insurance. But this doesn’t change the fact that there are other increased costs for the search-and-rescue team, he said.

The organization has launched an online fundraising campaign. All donations up to $500 that are made through the Louis & Gloria Flanzer Trustwill be matched.

The nonprofit has faced difficulties since sustaining hurricane damages in 2022.

“What hurt us the worst was Hurricane Ian,” Hadsell said. “We’re in Englewood. We were ground zero. Nobody ever speaks about Englewood but we were ground zero.”

Two tornados hit his home, where he runs Peace River K9s from, and 200 ,ph winds ravaged his property.

“By the time the storm was over, my house was destroyed; our equipment was damaged,” he said. “We were devastated, just devastated. I had to rebuild my house and then rebuild Peace River from scratch. I took out a lot of money myself to get that done.”

Hadsell added, “We went through a lot of financial problems to get things put back together and then this year was so bad.”

He got his start in search and rescue in the 1980s while living in Malibu, California. He had a German Shepherd and he was invited to join a volunteer K9 team the city was putting together.

“That’s when I got the bug. I enjoyed doing it. I got hooked on it,” he said.

When that program became embroiled in local politics, Hadsell moved to Florida. By then, he had another German Shepherd, which he trained for protection sports.

“Essentially, competition police work,” he said.

He was also hired to work with Sarasota and Charlotte county deputies in working with bloodhounds. As the dogs improved, they were called out to help find Alzheimer’s patients and other missing individuals.

Impressed by Hadsell’s work, Englewood fire chief Brian Gorski encouraged him to start up a volunteer search-and-rescue program. Working closely with the fire department, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and other first responders, he formed the Peace River K9 recovery team in 2005.

“We started with tracking dogs and started having a lot of success with it. Then, we started doing cadaver dogs and got really good at it,” Hadsell said. “Now, we’re one of the top recovery teams in the U.S. for finding missing victims.”

In addition to missing persons cases, Peace River also works closely with the University of Tennessee on forensic work for decades-old cold cases. The work has brought his team all over the U.S. and the world.

“We’ve been everywhere from Alaska to the Bahamas to Ecuador to Bosnia to the Middle East,” he said.

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In addition to working with dogs, they’ve also trained horses and even otters to aid with search-and-rescue missions.

It’s the first and only organization in the country to offer an otter program, which he created from scratch.

While flying home from a 2017 mission out west, Hadsell opened the in-flight magazine and found an article about otters.

“It was all about otters and how they hunt underwater,” he said. “Being a diver and understanding divers, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if I had an otter to do this kind of work?’ So, I started messing around with the idea.”

For several years after this, he trained American river otters in a beta program.

While they’re smart, they can be difficult to work with, he said. “River otters are big and they bite really hard. People have to realize these are wild animals. So, we’re taking a wild animal into our home and trying to shape them into a dog. They’re tough to work with. They’re not wired the way domestic dogs are, who just want to please and be part of a pack.”

But he recognized the value having trained otters could bring to searches in often murky waters that are difficult for humans to navigate.

Peace River launched its program in January with the addition of Splash, an Asian small-clawed otter.

“They’re the smartest of the bunch and very vocal,” Hadsell said. “And they’re smaller — they top out at 18 pounds — and are easier to travel with.”

So far, the program is going well, as Splash has made four, possibly five, recoveries this year.

Innovation is at the heart of Peace River’s work in the community, Hadsell said. “I’m the kind of guy where if you give me a fancy toy for Christmas, I’ll take it apart to see how it works and then I try to put it back together. With search and rescue I did the same thing. I ask, ‘Why couldn’t find this guy? Why didn’t it work? What can we do better?’”

The organization has stood out among search-and-rescue teams across the country for that reason, he added. “We were the first to have GPS trackers on dogs and people, and we have a computer where you can see where everyone is in real time during a search. We were the first to have a horse program. Our horses are trained in scent work like dogs. And we’re the first to have an otters program. I’m not afraid to step out of the box and try something to see if it makes things better. Too many people are followers and not innovators."

Now, he’s hopeful the community will step up to support Peace River’s mission.

“This budget impact has made things so difficult for us,” Hadsell said. “If we don’t get the funding we need, we’re going to have to shut down.”