Thanks Moxie and MakaniKitty for the information. I was basing my musings largely on what Loo had said about it being unusual to see pigs in that area. But, as it seems too coincidental for a pig to have died there at the same time Charli died there, I think it likely SC found one to mask the smell.
150' from the crime scene to the dead pig is not very far. I would imagine the cadaver dogs would have alerted if Charli's remains were near the bridge and pig. Not so sure Molly and others searc
hed up to the bridge, though......isn't it a ravine below the bridge?
Anyway, thanks for the input and answers.
The cadaver dogs can distinguish human decomposition from animal decomposition. Humans, not so much.
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The cadaver dogs are trained specifically in the task of human remains recovery, and do not cross over into the search effort for live, lost or incapacitated individuals, witnesses said.
During training, Gejate explained that Beckham was put in situations where trainers insert a lot of distractions, so that in an actual search scenario, the factors do not bother him. We would use food, animals, dead chickens, pig bones, anything
clothing
anything other than the target source, said Gejate.
He has been successful in location with distractions present. He would leave everything else alone, bypass them, and go only for the target odor. We also wanted to make sure he could travel to different places and not be disturbed by the airplane ride, different weather, and different situations, she said.
http://mauinow.com/2016/08/30/capobianco-trail-cadaver-dogs-alert-searchers-to-wooded-area/