In Loving Memory of
K9 WARDEN
August 8, 2014
Handler: Officer Lt. Casey Zolper
Division of Fish and Wildlife
Enforcement
Delaware
K9 Warden, a 10-year-old black
Labrador retriever, worked for the
Division of Fish and Wildlife
for the past eight years with his partner enforcement officer Lt. Casey
Zolper
Since joining DNREC’s Natural Resources
Police, Division of Fish and Wildlife
Enforcement in 2006, K-9 Warden followed his
outstanding nose and canine athleticism afield to track poachers and other
law-breakers, uncover evidence and lead
rescuers
in locating the lost and missing. On Sunday, Aug. 3, just a week before
his formal retirement from the work he loved
and
excelled at, the nearly 10-year-old black
Labrador retriever died at home with his
longtime Fish and Wildlife Enforcement
partner, Lt. Casey Zolper. “For eight years, K-9 Warden was a very
valuable member of our team and of our law
enforcement family, and we honor him
for his service to the people of Delaware,”
said Fish
and Wildlife Enforcement Chief Robert Legates.
Lt. Zolper and Warden became partners in the
spring of 2006. At that time, and Warden to
alert on the scent of river
herring to help in locating illegally-caught
herring. Warden proved his skills on a wide
variety of cases, from search and
rescue (SAR) to natural resource cases to
criminal cases. He tracked all types of
articles, people and wildlife, including
doves, turkeys, ducks and deer. His working
ability helped locate marijuana growing in
state wildlife areas, tracked missing
and wanted persons, and found key evidence
in criminal cases, including firearms,
ammunition and even a personal item
related to an attempted homicide.
In one case, Zolper and Warden were called
to assist Delaware State Police in their
search for a person believed to
be suicidal. Using his specialized training
in tracking, K-9 Warden worked with the
man’s scent taken from his vehicle and
a slipper, and quickly located the man, who was unconscious during the
middle of winter, in a large wooded area.
After the man was found by Warden, he was
transported to a hospital, treated and
stabilized. When Lt. Zolper and
his partner were not working in the field, Warden often served as Fish and
Wildlife Enfo after more than two
years of research, Zolper had a plan approved by his superiors to start
Delaware’s first-ever fish and wildlife K-9
team.
Warden was donated by local dog trainer
Bill Wolter, and training for Zolper and
Warden was funded by donations
from Owens Station hunting preserve, the
Dewey Beach Lions Club and the National
Wild Turkey Federation. DNREC’s
new K-9 unit graduated in June 2006 from
an intensive, 400-hour, 10-week training
course conducted by the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Certified by the United States
Police Canine Association, Florida’s
nationally-recognized training program
focuses on follow-your-nose canine
conservation detective work with hunting
dog breeds, rather than the more familiar bite-and-hold-the-suspect police
dog training with German shepherds.
Through voice-command, praise-focused
training, Warden learned to apply his
highly sensitive nose to find and follow
scents in tracking, evidence recovery
and wildlife detection. During their
eight years on the job together, Warden
and
Zolper sharpened and expanded the K-9’s
skill set through quarterly training
with other fish and wildlife K-9 teams
from neighboring states, including two Florida classmates who work for
Maryland Natural Resources Police. For
example,
Zolper trained cement's K-9 ambassador, demonstrating his unique skills
at schools, attending statewide
community
events and assisting Zolper in
introducing children and adults to Fish
and Wildlife-specific law enforcement
techniques.
On duty, Warden was Zolper’s partner and
all business, wearing his own badge on
his camouflage police dog collar.
However,
at the end of the workday, the good-natured K-9 agent was all about
spending his down time with his family,
especially
Zolper’s 4-year-old daughter. “Warden was a great partner on the job, and
a big part of my family at home,” Zolper
said.
“He will be missed both professionally and personally.” submitted
by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA
In Loving Memory of
K9 WINSLOW
February 28, 2014
Handler: Sergeant Brian Salkeld
Charleston Police Department
180 Lockwood Blvd.
Charleston, SC 29403
Retired Charleston Police K9 Dies
The
Charleston Police Department is mourning the loss of
one member of the police family -- retired K9
Winslow.
Winslow died last Friday at age 8, the department
said in a release. He was the partner of Sergeant
Brian Salkeld,
before retiring in January 2013. "Winslow was in fact for many years the
only ATF K9 in South Carolina,"
Sgt. Salkeld said in statement. "He also was the last ATF K9 in South
Carolina and was one of only about
500 working ATF dogs in the world."
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA
In
Loving Memory of
K9 WESSEL
January 2, 2014
Handler: Det. Mike Porter
Lawton Police Department
#1-
S.W. 4th St.
Lawton, OK 73501
Lawton loses canine officer
The Lawton Police Department lost an officer Thursday morning,
but he was off-duty when euthanized.
Most police canine officers retire due to medical reasons after about five
years of service, but LPD,
Det. Mike Porter's companion, Wessel, was gone before his time. According
to an LPD press release,
Wessel had suffered an unspecified "intestinal" issue for some
time, and LPD Capt. Craig Akard said he was
put down Thursday morning. Wessel, a Dutch shepherd, was
purchased in 2011 with funds raised by the
Lawton Citizens' Police Academy Alumni Association and the
General Employee's Board as well as funds from
the narcotics division fund, and he officially started in June 2011. By
mid-July of that year,
the 2-year-old K-9 officer had already helped officers track a
suspect in a pursuit and locate narcotics.
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA
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Memorials
to Fallen K-9s