DENVER (KDVR) — Members of Colorado Parks and Wildlife had an emotional day on Friday. CPW had to say goodbye to a valuable, respected and loyal teammate as they began their life in retirement.
An honor guard stood at attention as CPW Officer Phil Gurule walked alongside his partner of nine years, Sci the Dutch Shepard. As the duo made their way to a stage of CPW officials, radios rang in with the voice of a Colorado State Patrol dispatcher who announced Sci's last call.
Sci leaves behind him quite a legacy. He pioneered in proving that a K-9 unit could be a valuable asset to CPW. He faced poachers and armed offenders, searched for dangerous suspects and contraband and most importantly watched the back of his partner Officer Gurule.
“When Sci joined CPW in 2015, he launched a pilot program to determine if dogs could be valuable in wildlife management,” said CPW Assistant Chief of Law Enforcement Jim Hawkins. “Our K-9 pilot program has proven to be very beneficial in wildlife detection, detecting evidence related to criminal incidents and public engagement. We are excited to expand our K-9 program statewide."
While Sci heads into the quiet life, he leaves big paws to fill and as he said goodbye, a new face said hello. A face that is slobbery and eager to get started in filling those paws. The ceremony doubled as an introduction for Sage, a nine-month-old black lab, who was sworn in as the newest member of the CPW K-9 unit.
Sage will join the rest of the CPW K-9 pack and will team up with Officer Ian Petkash and his partner Samson, a Belgian Malinois, as well as Officer Brock McArdle and his partner Cash, an eight-year-old black lab.
This team will lead an expansion of the K-9 program announced by CPW at the ceremony. A bill introduced in April paved the way for this new statewide program. A K-9 supervisor will lead the unit which will have five K-9 handlers in it. The program will be fully staffed in about a year and a half.
The new dogs will be "single-purpose" dogs meaning they will only be used to detect wildlife, article searches, illegally trafficked species, and bear management. With discussions of searching for lost people in the backcountry and aquatic nuisance species in the future. The dogs will not be "dual-purpose" which are dogs who are also trained in suspect apprehension and handler protection as well.
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