Zoe: Hero K9 who helped fight crime in Pennsylvania for 7 years retires after cancer diagnosis
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: For the past seven years, a Harrisburg police K9 has assisted in reducing crime in Pennsylvania's capital city, but she is currently up against a new challenge. When Zoe, a Dutch shepherd, was diagnosed with cancer this year, she was forced into an abrupt early retirement. Zoe has been working with Corporal Don Bender since June 2016.
Zoe's retirement celebration took place on Monday at the city government building. Later, Zoe took her farewell stroll in front of applauding Harrisburg police and K9 officers who had worked with the squad. A radio send-off from Dauphin County 911 dispatch followed Zoe's stroll.
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'You can't ask for a better partner'
“Everyone has a once-in-a-lifetime dog. For me, she’s that,” Bender said in a news release, according to a PA report. “Of all these K9's, you can’t ask for a better partner.” Zoe was the first female K9 in the department's history as per a fundraiser launched for her medical expenses. She and Bender executed 48 tracks, 90 drug-related car, residential, and parcel searches, 49 arrests, 46 buiding searches, 71 backup and perimeter assistances, and 19 item searches.
'You can’t even put a price on what they are worth to this department'
Twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars, 8.80 kilograms of cocaine, 60 grams of fentanyl, 35 pounds of marijuana, and 3.88 kilograms of methamphetamine were all found, thanks to Zoe. These are just a few of her achievements. “Not just Zoe, but every K9 we have on the unit, it's invaluable to what they bring to the table. You can’t even put a price on what they are worth to this department,” Bender said.
Zoe is undergoing going chemotherapy, however, 'there's a chance she'll go into remission'
She also performed K-9 demonstrations at community and educational events, such as the city’s National Night Out. “We can’t put a price on what they bring to the department," the outlet reported Bender as saying. Zoe is undergoing going chemotherapy. Don Bender and his family are receiving assistance with the cost of Zoe's medical treatment from Paws of Honor, a nonprofit organization that offers healthcare to canines that have served in the armed forces and in law enforcement.
According to Bender, Zoe is currently in week two of a 19-week, rigorous chemotherapy regimen. She has so far responded well to medication, and there's a chance she'll go into remission.