Risking life and limb to find missing and dead is K9 cop’s mission

‘Nothing beats finding someone alive’

14 May 2021 - 11:00
By Riaan Marais
Warrant officer Ettiene Gerber and his dog, Misty, have come close to death many times while on rescue-and-recovery missions.
Image: WERNER HILLS Warrant officer Ettiene Gerber and his dog, Misty, have come close to death many times while on rescue-and-recovery missions.

He has spent 17 years diving into freezing water, navigating perilous rapids and rappelling down sheer cliffs — all for the sake of bringing hope or closure to the loved ones of missing people across the Eastern Cape.

When asked why he risks life and limb on a daily basis, W/O Ettiene Gerber simply shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

“I just do my job,” Gerber, 45, said.

And when receiving praise for every life saved or body recovered, he quickly deflects the honours, heaping it on his colleagues, those with whom they collaborated and, most of all, his trusty sidekick for the past three years, Misty.

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