Steve Signal has trained Echo for wilderness and avalanche search.

On the scent of the lost and missing

Features, Wild Safety

A long-time Wilderness contributor and freelance author, Kathy writes about outdoor recreation, natural history and conservation.

By Kathy Ombler

They find us when we’re lost and when we don’t make it home. Wilderness meets New Zealand’s volunteer Land Search and Rescue Search Dog handlers.

Tom Donald was lying under ferns, somewhere in Erua Forest. He’d been trying for hours to find his way out. Now it was dark, and he was trying to keep warm. “Then I saw something little zooming around, knee-high and lit up with lights. It got closer and I worked out it was a dog […]

About the author

Kathy Ombler

Freelance author Kathy Ombler mostly writes about outdoor recreation, natural history and conservation, and has contributed to Wilderness for many years. She has also written and edited for other publications and websites, most recently Federated Mountain Club’s Backcountry, Forest & Bird, and the Backcountry Trust. Books she has authored include Where to Watch Birds in New Zealand, Walking Wellington and New Zealand National Parks and Other Wild Places. She is currently a trustee for Wellington’s Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush Trust.