By Justice Emerick 

On October 6, 2025, Pensacola State College’s main campus had a special little guest with a big job. Splash, the cadaver otter, who is the newest member of search-and-rescue.

The event itself was spurred by adjunct faculty member Dr. McGlamory-Evans; she teaches the Criminology programs as well as Criminal Justice, Corrections, and Evidence courses. It was predicted that Splash’s demonstration would be of interest to about fifty to one-hundred students; according to Dr. Michael Payne, the Academic Department Head of Business. The event exceeded expectations and garnered the attention of around 250 students and faculty.

While Splash’s arrival is greatly due to our caring staff and faculty, none of it would be possible without the Peace River K9 Search and Rescue Association (PRSAR), a Southwest Florida based non-profit corporation funded by donations and volunteers. Splash’s handler Michael Hadsell, president of PRSAR’s dive team, came to PSC’s campus to demonstrate Splash as well as talk about the various trainings that PRSAR does with scent dogs and horses. Hadsell started off the demonstration with a bit of background information on himself that brought him to where he is now— training the first ever cadaver otters. Hadsell stated that he had gotten the idea to use otters from living abroad. “In my early twenties I lived in Thailand for a while and they used to use otters to hunt fish,” said Hadsell. “I thought that was really cool but forgot about it once I moved back to the States.” Hadsell then recounted that he had been on a flight back from L.A. when he read an article about otters being able to do scent problems underwater. That’s when he came up with the idea. “Well, you know what? I’ve trained scent dogs for forty years,” he said. “Maybe I could train an otter to do this.”

In 2020, Hadsell began “The Otter Project” to train otters. The world was in lockdown and Hadsell was, in his words, “bored out of my mind.” After contacting a local marina and getting permission to train with two of their otters, they found that the otters were easy to train and great at underwater scent work. While the marina did not allow Hadsell to keep these otters for field work, that did not stop progress. The project started out quietly with two American river otters, Squeakers and Hondo, until one dive recovery was discovered by a news outlet. Hadsell went on to recount that with the discovery of the otter dive team came unwanted publicity at first, but since the dive team’s initial discovery, the world has become more accepting of the use of otters in underwater recoveries. In one recorded interview on the PRSAR website, Hadsell himself states, “I would not be surprised if otters were standard issue in the future.”

Splash is an Asian small-clawed otter, much smaller and neater than the American river otters, and fueled on salmon and cuddles. During the demonstration, Hadsell showed videos of Splash working scents under water, informing the audience that when Splash finds what he is looking for, he will blow bubbles. When otters blow bubbles, they suck some of them back in to taste the scent that sticks to them. As for Splash, when he scents what he is looking for, he will go back to Hadsell to tug on his dive mask. In response, Hadsell clips a brightly colored line to Splash’s harness so that the otter can lead the team directly to the recovery site in low or no visibility waters.

Splash is still new to this line of work, but he has already made great waves in the field! He currently has four recoveries so far, his first being a twenty-four year old murder weapon to an unsolved case; a brick. The weapon was found down in the mud of a lake. Hadsell stated that “a lot of times, investigations will end at the water’s edge because water destroys evidence, especially salt water.” Even if as Hadsell put it, “we miss more than we find,” the addition of otters to search teams may see that success rate of closure go up in these coming years. From an outsider’s perspective, it feels good to know that recovery teams are making progress working alongside these otters. 

Hadsell’s demonstration overall was informative, insightful, and inspiring. Not only did he define a new way to recover remains through “The Otter Project”; he informed the audience that training dogs, horses, and otters on the way dry bones versus wet bones smell make all the difference for pinpointing a cadaver site. Hadsell’s unique idea has changed the way people will search for their loved ones, bring closure to families, and make it harder for bad guys to ‘get away with it,’ so to speak.

In my interview with Dr. Payne, he disclosed that the primary objective behind this demonstration was to “provide a region-specific criminal investigation presentation directly relevant to our hurricane-risk and riparian-adjacent population. . . as well as increase awareness for our faculty, staff, students, and (perhaps most importantly) potential students at the Pensacola State College Charter School of career and educational opportunities.” To the crowd that gathered to see this demonstration, it was more than seeing an otter by the end. It was inspiring to the criminology and forensics students that they chose the right path, as well as inspiring the charter academy that they can literally “Go here, to Get There.”

To learn more about Splash and his hard work, check out the Peace River Search and Rescue website at prsar.org.