James Symington was the founder of the canine unit for the Halifax Regional Police. Trakr was a German Shepherd who came to the unit from Czechoslovakia in 1995 as a puppy. Trakr was part of the confiscation of over a million dollars of contraband, found missing persons, and helped make arrests. Trakr served for six years and then he retired. Symington was forced to retire because he opposed a new policy that called for the euthanizing the dogs when they got old. He was later restored to duty with back pay and the policy was removed. On 9/11/2001, Symington watched the tragedy of the Twin Towers on television. He drove 15 hours to the site with Trakr, arriving in New York City the next day. On that day, while climbing over the rubble, Trakr’s tail went stiff. He had made a live hit on a body in the rubble. Genelle Guzman-McMillan was found alive and was the last survivor to be found. Genelle was employed on the 64th floor and after the plane hit the building she reached the 13th floor when the building collapsed. She had been under 30-feet of debris for 26 hours when Trakr discovered her. After that find, Trakr and the other rescue dogs worked tirelessly to recover bodies. It was a depressing experience for the dogs. Dogs can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder like humans. But it was not just mental stress. After two days of searching, Trakr collapsed. This was cause by smoke inhalation, burns, and exhaustion. He had to recover before he went home.
When he returned to Halifax, Symington was suspended for not getting permission to go to New York, this happened despite the fact that he was on leave. Trakr went back into retirement. In 2005, he was given the Jane Goddall Award for “Extraordinary Service to Humanity”. Trakr suffered from the effects of his work at Ground Zero and died at age 16. Five puppies were cloned from him and they all became rescue dogs. Trakr was a Canadian canine who courageously climbed over rubble to find folk who had fallen.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trakr
- https://spyscape.com/article/how-hero-dog-trakr-found-the-last-9-11-human-survivor
- https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2059858_2059863_2060232,00.html
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