Barking up the wrong tree: For sniffer dogs, bombs are just one of their worries

Handlers blame poor health of dogs on poor funding.


Faraz Khan November 27, 2014

KARACHI:


Sometimes, life takes us on paths different from the ones others choose for us. Such was the case for Jenny, who died of cancer last month. Jenny’s guardians had chosen a purpose in life for her, or at least her children — to protect people from militants. But the story of her life took an unexpected turn, ending before it really even began.


Jenny was a Labrador, a breed that is highly regarded for its intelligence.

At the age of four, the lovable pooch with silky brown fur joined the K-9 Unit of the Sindh police in Karachi. Her job was not to detect explosives or drugs, rather, a breeding dog, whose puppies would be trained for induction into the unit as ‘operational staff’.



But the six-year-old Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer. “The cancer had spread and despite two surgeries to remove the tumours, she could not survive,” her vet, Dr Isma Gheewala said.

 Falling frequently

The Sindh police’s K-9 Unit has been operational since July 2010 and provides security to VVIPs and at rallies. The unit has been losing its four-legged members with worrying frequency. The only remaining female available for breeding is Sheela, a two-year-old German shepherd who is also in poor health. She gave birth to four puppies five months ago but all of them died. “Since she gave birth, her health started deteriorating and she could not feed her litter,” explained a K-9 staff member.

The K-9 family has lost eight members since its inception in 2011. Pepsi, a four-month-old female Labrador was gifted to the department by an SP, but she died a few months later in September 2013.

The unit currently has eight dogs — Labradors Aklees, Thunder, Jamboo and Buddy, and German shepherds Bunto, Jimmy, Tiger and Sheela. But due to ill-health, Sheela, Buddy, Thunder and Aklees have essentially been ‘prematurely retired’.

The four ‘healthy’ dogs are all between the ages of five and six years. The unit could also lose them if they are not properly cared for.

Eight deaths in four years have also raised several questions about the level of care given to the dogs. Besides low-quality feed, they are also not given proper medication.



“When the high-ups ignored the unit, we decided to enhance the strength by breeding new dogs ourselves, but our hopes ended after Jenny’s death and Sheela’s health problems,” he added.

The unit has around two dozen human members — half of them handlers. They joined the K-9 unit as they were offered one step promotion and risk allowances. “We enjoyed one step promotion and the risk allowance for only one year. More than three years now the department has deprived us of these benefits,” explained a member of the unit. “When humans are dispensable, what kind of treatment would you expect for dogs,” he lamented.

The department is likely to buy more dogs. “Our attempt to breed dogs failed...but now we are going to buy more young dogs to train and use as sniffers,” Special Branch AIG Zakir Hussain said.

 Crippling shortage

Bomb disposal officers form part of the most neglected units of the Sindh police. Besides the lowest salaries, they do not even have enough gadgets. It has around 43 staff members but has only eight experts for the mega city.

The unit is now only equipped with four bomb-disposal suits, one bomb disposal van, five mine locaters, five bomb locaters, four X-Ray machines, 12 bomb defusing kits, five bomb blankets and over one dozen detectors. The unit gets almost no fund from the government or the department.

In 2013, the US government also donated over 40 EOD vans to Pakistan but they have yet to be allotted to bomb disposal units. The police department has demanded 13 vans — five for Karachi and the rest for other districts of the province — but only one has been allotted to Karachi as yet.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2014.

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