Penryn Town Council has approved a £500 grant for Cornish-based charity that aims to assist local authorities in finding missing persons and pets.

Cornwall Search Dogs is a recently set up charity that focus on 'mantrailing' - using specially trained dogs to find people who have gone missing or are currently on the run.

The charity would be able to cover the whole of Cornwall and is run by a group of five trustees who have experience in lowland and mountain rescue as well as police dog handling.

The dogs are trained to use their highly-developed ability to track scents and can potentially be used alongside police or fire and rescue services as a means of locating lost or wanted individuals.

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At the council's public meeting (March 1), Councillor Rebecca McSorley said: "I think the scheme is an excellent idea."

"We do have a number of people who are older who and suffering from dementia which can be a reason why people go missing, we also have younger children who can sometimes disappear and have accidents.

"I think it's an excellent service that we should be supporting."

The charity have four trained search dogs and claim their aims would be to provide a dedicated and trained emergency search service which would consist of dogs and volunteer handlers to both assist and support the local emergency services, as well as voluntary rescue service,s in their search and rescue efforts regarding missing persons around Cornwall.