Humidity too much for Pohaku

Saipan’s humidity was too much for canine tracker Pohaku, prompting his handlers yesterday to cut his sniffing work to just half a day on his second day of searching for sisters Faloma and Maleina Luhk.

Pohaku’s search ended at 1pm with no trace of the Luhk sisters, but the dog will resume his search this morning, Saturday.

Around midday yesterday, Pohaku’s handlers, Shay Walden and Kuma Davis, noticed that the dog was “becoming overheated.”

“The temperature and humidity on Saipan far exceed what we are used to in Hawaii. Out of abundance of caution, the handlers decided to give Pohaku the rest of the day off,” said FBI special agent Tom Simon.

Simon said they don’t want to harm the dog as he is “too great of an asset.”

Pohaku, which means “stone” or “rock” in Hawaii, is a 2-year-old male Labrador retriever from the Hawaii State Civil Defense’s Urban Search and Rescue Canine Unit. He arrived on Wednesday night and began the search on Thursday.

Aside from the two handlers, two FBI special agents and two police officers also accompanied the dog in the search for the Luhk sisters, who have been missing since May 25.

Simon said the FBI has not figured out yet the identity of the man with the distinctive facial birthmark they are looking for, despite several tips and many interviews.

“We’ve spoken to many different individuals with birthmarks on their faces. They all have been photographed and we’re going to be meeting with the witness who saw the birthmark man next week to review the photographs with him to see if he recognizes any of them as the individual from May 6,” he said.

Simon earlier emphasized that the person is not a suspect or a person of interest in the investigation, but who may be able to help on a potential lead.

He disclosed that less than 10 persons with birthmarks on their faces have been photographed. “None of the individuals that we spoke to appear to have any information about the missing girls and none of them recalled being in the As Teo neighborhood on May 6,” he added.

On May 6, 2011, at approximately 10:30pm, a white four-door car with some body damage on the front passenger was reportedly seen driving in the Santa Lourdes shrine area. The driver was described as a Pacific islander and was about 30 years old, with short clean-cut hair.