Recovery efforts continue in the Texas Hill Country after devastating floods swept through, and in the days after the Fourth of July, JaNa Bickel and her group, Special K9 Inc. have been there looking for victims.
RELATED: ‘It comes from my heart’: Edna man donating custom-made caskets for Hill Country flood victims
Recommended Videos
Bickel, 73, is the founder and president of Special K9 Inc., a nonprofit based in Montgomery County that deploys certified cadaver dogs across the U.S. and internationally.
With over 35 years of experience in disaster recovery and search efforts, Bickel leads an all-volunteer team driven by one mission: to help families find their missing loved ones.
“We’ve been here a week and a half,” Bickel said during a Zoom interview. “We have to wait for an agency to contact us so we have permission to come in here.”
Her team was first called by the Florida-based HEAL-Corp, later joining efforts with the Ingram Fire Department and the Kerrville Police Department.
While details remain confidential out of respect for affected families, Bickel confirmed that her team has made significant progress in locating missing individuals.
“Anytime a family has someone missing, all they want is to bring them home. Whether it’s for peace or closure, they just want their loved one back,” she said.
SEE ALSO: Gov. Abbott requests federal disaster assistance for 3 new counties following Texas flooding
Despite her age, Bickel continues to deploy alongside her team.
“Every year I think, ‘maybe I’m too old for this,’” she said. “But as long as I can still do it physically, and my dog is trained and certified, we go, I cannot physically do some of the things that the younger ones can do.”
Her current partner, a 6-year-old dog named Bandit, was certified at just a year old. Bandit is Bickel’s sixth working dog in her decades-long career.
At the height of the recent effort in Kerr County, Special K9 Inc. had around 11 volunteers and eight certified dogs on the ground. Volunteers came from across the country: Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, and mostly Texas.
“Our volunteers use their vacation time, take unpaid leave, and fund their own travel,” said another team member who assists remotely from California with grant writing and search coordination. “This is a 100% volunteer organization, and we’ll go wherever we’re needed.”
While younger volunteers bring energy, Bickel and others offer something just as valuable: experience. “I can’t cover 100 acres like I used to, but I can share knowledge from past disasters like Katrina, Hurricane Ike, and even 9/11.”
Even as boots and paws hit the ground, Bickel acknowledges that not everyone can physically join the search. But that doesn’t mean they can’t help.
“Prayers, thoughts, they matter,” she said. “Even if you can’t be here in person, just thinking about this community helps. Kerrville and this whole area are in everyone’s hearts.”
As the team continues their efforts, Bickel and one other handler plan to stay at least until Monday, two full weeks after they first arrived.
