First Certified Mounted Scent Detection Team

In November 2025, our Mounted Division Training Officer and her horse Kodak became the first Mounted Scent Detection Team (MAST) to be certified by the Maine Association for Search and Rescue (MASAR). To our knowledge, they are the first mounted scent detection team certified under a regional or national standard, worldwide. (After extensive search, we have been unable to find any other certification standards.) MASAR's MAST certification standard will be available for other SAR units to use for a starting point very shortly; ASTM is already working on a version for national use.

News report by NewsCenter Maine, as seen on "207" on December 8, 2025:

CORINTH, SUMMER 2022 - Maine Game Warden Jake Voter and K9 Koda worked alongside HISAR's Sharon Pomeroy and EQ Kodak in a groundbreaking training exercise / demonstration. From left to right: K9 Koda, Warden Jake Voter, EQ Kodak, Sharon Pomeroy of HISAR, and Terry Nowacki of the American Equine Scenting Association.