September 11, 2026

Remembering the Animals of 9/11

The guide dogs, police dogs, search dogs, and pets whose lives became part of September 11.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Roselle was asleep under Michael Hingson's desk on the 78th floor of the North Tower at the World Trade Center. Then, all of a sudden, the building started to shake. Roselle woke up, Hingson told her to move forward, and they headed toward the stairs.

Roselle was one of many animals that became part of the September 11 story. Some were at work when the planes hit, while others came later to dig through the wreckage. Some were out searching for survivors, while others helped recover the deceased. There were also pets left behind in apartments, trapped when their owners couldn’t get back.

Now, 25 years later, the animals are no longer with us, but we still remember their stories.

Roselle and Salty were already at work

Roselle was a yellow Labrador Retriever and guide dog for Michael Hingson, who had been blind since birth. When American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower, Hingson was getting ready for a meeting while Roselle was resting peacefully under his desk. When she woke up, she stayed calm. Hingson had always been careful about what happened next. Guide dogs don’t just figure out where to go on their own. As he explained 25 years later, “The dogs don't lead. They guide.” And Roselle helped him navigate.

Salty was another yellow Labrador, and she was with Omar Rivera, a blind computer technician on the 71st floor. Rivera remembered trying to let Salty go in the stairwell so she could escape, but she wouldn’t leave his side. They made it out of the North Tower together. Neither Roselle nor Salty had any special emergency training; they were just doing their job as guide dogs that fateful morning.

Sirius waited in the South Tower

Sirius was already on duty too. The four-year-old yellow Lab worked as an explosive-detection dog with the Port Authority Police Department, teamed up with Officer David Lim. When the first plane hit the North Tower, Lim and Sirius were in the K-9 office beneath the South Tower. Lim knew people might need help, but since he had to keep a hand on Sirius's leash while they were working together, he thought it’d be difficult to assist evacuees. So, he put Sirius in his kennel. “I’ll be back for you,” he promised. Lim went into the North Tower to help people get out. He was still inside when the building collapsed but survived with a small group in Stairwell B.

Unfortunately, Sirius didn’t make it through the collapse of the South Tower. His remains were found in the wreckage months later and carried out from ground zero with an honor guard. He was the only police dog lost in the attacks.

Then the dogs started arriving

Within hours of the attacks, search teams started arriving at ground zero. About 300 specially trained dogs came to help. Some were on the lookout for survivors, while others searched for human remains. Police dogs were on site too, along with therapy dogs, and one of them was Apollo.

Apollo was a German Shepherd from the NYPD, and he and his handler, Peter Davis, got to the World Trade Center just after the attacks and began their search.

This wasn't an ordinary search mission for those search dogs. They had to navigate unstable piles of steel, concrete, and debris, all while fires burned underneath. They faced dust getting into their eyes and noses, and their paws needed constant cleaning and checks. Vet teams were right there with them. Apollo even dodged a fire that flared up during a search but went right back to work after that.

Ricky could go places the others couldn't

Not every search dog at ground zero was a German Shepherd or Labrador. Ricky was a 17-pound rat terrier. His small size actually worked to his advantage. While the larger dogs were busy working on the debris piles, Ricky could squeeze into tight spots and navigate through gaps that the others couldn’t reach. He worked with his handler, Susanne Edling, to search areas where people might be trapped. And sometimes, he worked alongside Thunder, a much bigger golden retriever.

This showed that when it came to search teams, there wasn’t just one kind of 9/11 dog or a single job they all did. Each dog had its own training, unique body type, and different ways of searching. But in the end, they all had the same goal: to find someone.

When there was no one to find

Search dogs usually have a pretty straightforward job: they’re told to go search, find someone, alert their handler, get a reward, and then do it all over again. But things changed at ground zero. As time passed, the chances of finding survivors got slimmer. The focus shifted from rescuing people to just recovering what was left.

Handlers and vets noticed some of the dogs were starting to lose their energy and enthusiasm for searching. To help them out, they sometimes set up a person to find. Someone would hide in the rubble, and the dog would search for them, get the praise and rewards they loved, and then be ready to get back to work. The searches were physically tough too; some dogs would work for 12 hours straight. The vet teams made sure to clean their eyes, noses, and paw pads since they were trudging through dust, smoke, and debris. But over time, the dogs kind of picked up an extra role.

Therapy dogs

Therapy dogs were there mainly for people who were looking for comfort. Dogs like Nikie spent time with firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, and others putting in long hours at the site. Even the search dogs offered some relief when they weren't on duty.

Responders would come over during breaks to pet them, sit with them, or hug them. These dogs weren’t officially trained as therapy animals; it just kind of happened. For a few minutes, they had a friendly dog to talk to before going back into work.

The animals left behind

The animals of September 11 weren't all just working animals. When Lower Manhattan got evacuated, people left their apartments thinking they’d be back soon. Some didn’t make it home for days, and others never returned.

The ASPCA set up two mobile veterinary units near ground zero and opened a hotline for people to report their lost pets. They sent officers into evacuated buildings to help residents get their animals and to rescue pets whose owners were missing. By early October, they had saved 200 stranded pets and treated 300 animals found in the area.

One memorable photo from that time shows Ollie, a cat being carried down Washington Street by his owner and some others. There’s also a touching moment captured of a doctor being reunited with his two cats, while his wife was thought to have lost her life in the attacks.

There were hundreds of smaller reunions like these happening all around the chaos. People were looking for their cats and dogs left waiting inside apartments. Animals got taken home by someone other than the person who had left for work that Tuesday morning.

The last search dog

Bretagne was two years old when she and her handler, Denise Corliss, deployed from Texas to New York. Ground zero was their first big assignment, and they spent days digging through the rubble.

Bretagne went on to participate in several disaster response efforts, including Hurricane Katrina, before retiring from search and rescue. In 2011, photographer Charlotte Dumas visited her in Texas to photograph the surviving dogs from 9/11 in retirement as part of a project.

She passed away in June 2016 at the age of 16, making her the last known surviving search dog from ground zero.

More than two decades after September 11, none of the dogs from this story are still with us. Roselle and Salty walked out of the North Tower alongside the people who needed them. Unfortunately, Sirius did not make it out of the South Tower. Apollo, Ricky, Thunder, Bretagne, and many others arrived afterward to search through the debris. Some of these dogs found people, some helped bring loved ones home, and others simply sat with someone who needed comfort for a few minutes. Their stories continue to live on.

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