Bosnian centre trains dogs for Ukrainian demining efforts

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Mey, a Belgian shepherd, and her trainer Kenan Muftic learned how to effectively detect mines and unexploded ordnance last week, negotiating various obstacles and scenarios in a grass field in Sarajevo’s suburb of Butmir.

Since its establishment in 2004, the Norwegian People’s Aid Global Training Centre for Mine and Explosive Detection Dogs in Sarajevo has trained more than 500 dogs. The trained dogs have been deployed to conflict zones across the globe, including Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Iraq. 

The centre has also sent 26 dogs to Ukraine, the world’s most densely mined country according to a 2024 estimate by the United Nations and Ukrainian government.

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Norwegian People's Aid sent dogs to assist in the effort to clear millions of mines and unexploded ordnance devices, Muftic said. 

In Ukraine, dogs from Butmir assist deminers in clearing fields in heavily affected regions such as Kharkiv in the northeast and Mykolaiv in the south. 

“In some places, they are close to the front lines,” Muftic said.

Landmines laid since Russia’s 2022 invasion cost Ukraine over $11 billion in annual GDP, according to a 2024 report by Ukraine’s Economy Ministry and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. 

Minefields and unexploded ordnance render vast agricultural areas inaccessible, slashing Ukraine's exports and tax revenue.

Bosnia, still grappling with the legacy of its 1990s war, faces similar challenges. 

Data from Bosnia’s Mine Action Centre in 2023 shows landmines planted across the country by Serb, Bosniac and Croat troops still affect around 15% of the population. Specialised dogs are sometimes indispensable in clearing minefields.

“In demining, we say: one mine found, one family saved,” said Muftic, who over the past 27 years has helped to clear thousands of mines and unexploded ordnance devices. 

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Freya Whitworth)