It’s been a busy week for Campbell River police service dog Gator.
At around 11:00 am last Tuesday (May 18th) in the 600 block of Alexander Road, police received a call after a man was spotted rummaging through a car, before stumbling away in an “apparent drug haze.”
Fortunately at the time, Cst. Maury Tyre says Police Dog Services was on duty. Police dog Gator then started to track in a nearby wooded area, and Tyre says the 32-year-old suspect was found suffering from an opioid overdose.
“Gator’s highly skilled handler administered Naloxone to the male and initiated a call to BC Ambulance services. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the location where the male had been located, it was going to be very difficult for paramedics to reach the man,” Tyre explains.
“A second RCMP member attended and administered a second dose of Naloxone, which allowed the man to be able to walk with assistance to the ambulance.”
Tyre adds, “in the resulting investigation, it was determined the truck the suspect had been in was stolen, and there were other goods in the vehicle that were also believed to be stolen.”
Training For Any Situation:
Cst. Tyre says a local man was surprised to see police dog trainee Nugget working the docks on Saturday morning. He says the gracious boat owner, Robert Millington, let Nugget and his handler, Cst. Coles, use his boat for “a little training.”
Police service dogs train for many different situations, Tyre notes, and in the initial training of puppies, he says it’s so important to have varying opportunities.
“We’d really like to thank the community for supporting the training of our dogs,” he says.
