B.C. search-and-rescue mule using his nose to help solve Arizona cold case

Résumé détaillé

A British Columbia mule with a nose that knows is helping investigators trying to crack a cold case in Arizona.

Chelsea Grimm vanished while on a cross-country road trip in 2023. Her vehicle was found abandoned on a forest service road in the Kaibab National Forest, just south of the Grand Canyon.

Now, Sonny, a scent-detecting mule, and his human, Princeton Ground Search and Rescue (PGSAR) volunteer Marion Weiskopff, have joined in a private search to try and find any trace of the missing woman.

Weiskopff and Sonny are a part of B.C.'s only dedicated mounted search-and-rescue team, but this is the first time they've been called on for his scent detection skills.

"When he picks up a smell, he stops dead in his tracks and he takes the air in, like you can hear him sniffing the air, and then he just turns [to] where the scent is coming from," Weiskopff explained.

Sonny the mule and Marion Weisskopff are handed an award for winning a scenting field trial in Oregon in 2024. (Marion Weisskopff)

Sonny honed those abilities at training clinics in Oregon and Arizona several years ago, and went on to win equine scenting competitions in each state, Weiskopff told CBC's Daybreak South.

"Sonny found the scent in about a 10-acre plot in under a minute and a half," she explained. "Other horses often take 10 minutes and longer."

A missing person poster for Chelsea Grimm seen in Arizona. (Marion Weisskopff)

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