Ten years after the hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and forever altered the course of history, tributes and memorials have been created to honor the victims and the firemen, policemen and EMTs who worked so diligently in the disturbing aftermath.
In addition to the humans searching initially for survivors and then for the remains of nearly 3,000 victims were close to 100 rescue dogs. A decade later only a dozen of those loyal canines remain on this planet. Dutch photographer and New York resident Charlotte Dumas traveled across the US to photograph the dogs and interview their handlers about their experiences at Ground Zero. She compiled those photos and stories into a book she’s entitled “Retrieved.”
The photos of the dogs are haunting in their own way. Dumas has captured a sadness in those dark eyes surrounded by graying hair in the elderly animals. The dogs can’t relate their remembrances of crawling over the debris and rubble, but it seems their eyes are telling their personal tale of the horrors they’ve seen.