Canada stops using 'avalanche dogs' for rescues in Rocky Mountains, stirring outrage

For 55 years, the government used rescue dogs in the Canadian Rocky Mountains who were trained to trace "everything", Ward said, from a small paper clip to shell casings to a human body.

After avalanches, a common winter hazard in the area, they were called upon to search for trapped hikers or skiers underneath heavy mounds of snow.

"It saves probers hours and hours of standing shoulder to shoulder and poking in the snow, and also exposing themselves to secondary avalanche hazards," Ward said.

In the summer, they helped find children who got lost, often after wandering away from their parents' campsites.