Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Duke Blackburn

Aired May 31, 2003 - 17:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: So, how do you sniff out a loner on the run like Eric Rudolph? Well, Martin Savidge found out and he joins us now live from Centennial Olympic Park with more. Hi, Marty.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sophia, there were a lot of people in law enforcement that were involved in the search for Eric Rudolph over a number of years. Most of them walked on two legs, some of them walked on four. We met one of those experts today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Say hello to Elvis. He is in the park, as a matter of fact. Elvis is a full bloodhound in the capable hands of right now of Scottie Abercrombie (ph), but we're going to talk to Duke Blackburn, who is the owner of Elvis and a number of other search dogs, and talking about, how do you train a dog to search for people? And I imagine you've searched for a lot of folks.

DUKE BLACKBURN: We have. A dog, a bloodhound has a natural ability or instinct to follow human scent, or a scent. And we have to fine tune that to make them find either a scent specific, a scent- specific, a certain person, but of our most dogs are hot trackers so that they follow the last -- the man's scent that goes through. It's usually the hottest track that goes through.

SAVIDGE: How good are they? In other words, how keen is his sense of smell?

BLACKBURN: They say it's 100, 200 times ours. I think it's even more. There've been documented many times that they find people, the ones that I really believed, you know, two days old track and things like that. You hear about month-old track. I don't really believe that. And you know, a good six hours, eight hours would be right on him.

SAVIDGE: And that is the familiar call we hear from a bloodhound?

BLACKBURN: That's it. They don't bark, contrary to all the movies, they don't bark when they're on a trail. Most of them don't. They're real silent. And all they're doing is looking to be petted or the affection of being -- the attention, or to be petted when they find somebody.

SAVIDGE: And what will Elvis do when he has found somebody? How do you know? What is he telling you?

BLACKBURN: He'll start running in a circle, or he'll start pulling his head up off of the ground instead of trailing. He'll start winding the person and looking around. That's usually the way they do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Elvis wasn't the only one that was enjoying Olympic Centennial Park today. Take a look in the background, you can see that especially by the fountains that commemorate the Olympics, it is a popular gathering point. Remembered today for happy times, not necessarily for what we are remembering, which is of course the first place it's suspected that Eric Rudolph may have struck. Of course, Eric now in custody -- Sophia.

CHOI: Marty, I was just wondering, those dogs are so highly trained. Why wouldn't it have worked in this case? I mean, they were using dogs early on in the chase for Eric Rudolph, and yet they came up empty-handed. Is it because if you run in water, as you see on movies so many times, that dogs might lose your scent?

SAVIDGE: Well, I'm not an expert on that, but I will tell you this, but I have seen cases where they have been looking, say, for bodies perhaps down in water, and they have used bloodhounds, actually floating them on a boat over the surface of the water, and they claim, at least some of those handlers, that the dogs have the capability of actually sniffing, especially a cadaver, through the water itself.

So their sense of smell is said to be incredibly keen.

As to why they couldn't find Eric Rudolph, let's face it, they had thousands of law enforcement that were trained in using some of the most sophisticated technology that exists, and they were unable to locate him at that particular time. So that area of the forest up there in North Carolina is so quick that you equate it more to jungle than almost to a forest. And it's very easy to lose someone in that kind of undergrowth -- Sophia.

CHOI: Understand. Marty, where you are now, Centennial Park, of course the site of the first bombing involved in this case. Is it any safer there today?

SAVIDGE: Well, it is safer or made safer, as much as it can be. This is an interesting subject, because I remember being in Israel last year when they were having a spate of suicide bombings. And these were bombings taking were taking place (UNINTELLIGIBLE) similar to, of course, the bombing that took place here at Olympic Centennial Park. And the Israelis, who you would think would be expert, unfortunately, at this particular task, admit that when it comes to trying to secure the great outdoors, it is simply impossible to do. There are too many avenues in, too many avenues out for a suspect to move and move relatively freely.

What you try to do is train your security personnel and the public at large to be aware, to be suspicious, to keep their eyes focused. And the moment that they see anything that seems out of the normal, to report it to authorities.

Keep in mind, the backpack was discovered, the bomb I'm talking about here, the Olympic Centennial Park, before it went off. And law enforcement was in the process of trying to evacuate people. Unfortunately, it went off before they were able to fully achieve that task -- Sophia.

CHOI: All right. Martin Savidge, reporting live from the Centennial Park here in Atlanta. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired May 31, 2003 - 17:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOPHIA CHOI, CNN ANCHOR: So, how do you sniff out a loner on the run like Eric Rudolph? Well, Martin Savidge found out and he joins us now live from Centennial Olympic Park with more. Hi, Marty.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sophia, there were a lot of people in law enforcement that were involved in the search for Eric Rudolph over a number of years. Most of them walked on two legs, some of them walked on four. We met one of those experts today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Say hello to Elvis. He is in the park, as a matter of fact. Elvis is a full bloodhound in the capable hands of right now of Scottie Abercrombie (ph), but we're going to talk to Duke Blackburn, who is the owner of Elvis and a number of other search dogs, and talking about, how do you train a dog to search for people? And I imagine you've searched for a lot of folks.

DUKE BLACKBURN: We have. A dog, a bloodhound has a natural ability or instinct to follow human scent, or a scent. And we have to fine tune that to make them find either a scent specific, a scent- specific, a certain person, but of our most dogs are hot trackers so that they follow the last -- the man's scent that goes through. It's usually the hottest track that goes through.

SAVIDGE: How good are they? In other words, how keen is his sense of smell?

BLACKBURN: They say it's 100, 200 times ours. I think it's even more. There've been documented many times that they find people, the ones that I really believed, you know, two days old track and things like that. You hear about month-old track. I don't really believe that. And you know, a good six hours, eight hours would be right on him.

SAVIDGE: And that is the familiar call we hear from a bloodhound?

BLACKBURN: That's it. They don't bark, contrary to all the movies, they don't bark when they're on a trail. Most of them don't. They're real silent. And all they're doing is looking to be petted or the affection of being -- the attention, or to be petted when they find somebody.

SAVIDGE: And what will Elvis do when he has found somebody? How do you know? What is he telling you?

BLACKBURN: He'll start running in a circle, or he'll start pulling his head up off of the ground instead of trailing. He'll start winding the person and looking around. That's usually the way they do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: Elvis wasn't the only one that was enjoying Olympic Centennial Park today. Take a look in the background, you can see that especially by the fountains that commemorate the Olympics, it is a popular gathering point. Remembered today for happy times, not necessarily for what we are remembering, which is of course the first place it's suspected that Eric Rudolph may have struck. Of course, Eric now in custody -- Sophia.

CHOI: Marty, I was just wondering, those dogs are so highly trained. Why wouldn't it have worked in this case? I mean, they were using dogs early on in the chase for Eric Rudolph, and yet they came up empty-handed. Is it because if you run in water, as you see on movies so many times, that dogs might lose your scent?

SAVIDGE: Well, I'm not an expert on that, but I will tell you this, but I have seen cases where they have been looking, say, for bodies perhaps down in water, and they have used bloodhounds, actually floating them on a boat over the surface of the water, and they claim, at least some of those handlers, that the dogs have the capability of actually sniffing, especially a cadaver, through the water itself.

So their sense of smell is said to be incredibly keen.

As to why they couldn't find Eric Rudolph, let's face it, they had thousands of law enforcement that were trained in using some of the most sophisticated technology that exists, and they were unable to locate him at that particular time. So that area of the forest up there in North Carolina is so quick that you equate it more to jungle than almost to a forest. And it's very easy to lose someone in that kind of undergrowth -- Sophia.

CHOI: Understand. Marty, where you are now, Centennial Park, of course the site of the first bombing involved in this case. Is it any safer there today?

SAVIDGE: Well, it is safer or made safer, as much as it can be. This is an interesting subject, because I remember being in Israel last year when they were having a spate of suicide bombings. And these were bombings taking were taking place (UNINTELLIGIBLE) similar to, of course, the bombing that took place here at Olympic Centennial Park. And the Israelis, who you would think would be expert, unfortunately, at this particular task, admit that when it comes to trying to secure the great outdoors, it is simply impossible to do. There are too many avenues in, too many avenues out for a suspect to move and move relatively freely.

What you try to do is train your security personnel and the public at large to be aware, to be suspicious, to keep their eyes focused. And the moment that they see anything that seems out of the normal, to report it to authorities.

Keep in mind, the backpack was discovered, the bomb I'm talking about here, the Olympic Centennial Park, before it went off. And law enforcement was in the process of trying to evacuate people. Unfortunately, it went off before they were able to fully achieve that task -- Sophia.

CHOI: All right. Martin Savidge, reporting live from the Centennial Park here in Atlanta. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com