Dogs searching for Shtuka

Five highly trained search and disaster dogs are heading to Sun Peaks Resort to help in the search for a missing 20-year-old man.

Canadian Search and Disaster Dog Association is sending five dogs, four handlers and four support workers to try and locate Ryan Shtuka.

Shtuka was last seen leaving a house party on Burfield Drive on Feb. 17 at 2:10 a.m. 

“Our dogs are trained to search for alive and deceased people,” said CASDDA president Richard Lee.

Their dogs search for any human trace purely by scent.

“They search their assigned area for any human scent they can find and they will go and check every source they find,” he said.

The plan is to have the dogs search all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday if they need to.

Kamloops RCMP have focused their efforts on Sun Peaks Resort and do not believe he left the surrounding area.

“The biggest problem tends to be the search areas tend to get too big,” said Lee.

Lee is confident if Shtuka is in the search area they will be able to locate him.

CASDDA is a non-profit, volunteer organization that trains dogs and handlers that deploy locally, nationally and internationally.

Anyone that has information about Shtuka is being asked to contact Kamloops RCMP. A $5,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to finding Shtuka.