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The Dogs of 9/11
The Dogs of 9/11
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
over 350 trained SAR (search and rescue)
dogs responded to Ground Zero and the
Pentagon. In addition, 300 therapeutic
dogs were deployed to help comfort
people. The dogs worked 16 hours a
day, and usually stayed on site for 7 to 14
days. After every shift, they were taken to
the veterinary-care tents to be examined
and bathed and have their eyes, ears
15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the
last Ground Zero dog died. Below are
the stories of 3 of the dogs who played
efforts after the tragedy.
Sirius’ Story: the only police dog to die
in the disaster.
Police K9, Sirius, a 4 ½ year old yellow lab
was a bomb detection dog with the NY/NJ
Port Authority Police Department. He and
assigned to the World Trade Center. The
morning of September 11, 2001, Sirius
Police Station in the basement of the World
Lim heard the sound of an explosion, he
thought a bomb had gone off inside the
building, and he commented to Sirius, "
... one must have gotten by us.” He put
Sirius in his basement kennel, the safest
place he could think of, and told Sirius that
he’d come back for him. The kennel was
destroyed
In 2005, Sirius had a dog run named in his
honor at Kowsky Plaza in Battery Park City,
commemorating the 95-pound canine, the
only police dog to die in the disaster.
at the World Trade Center after the
attack.
The recipient of the 2001 ACE (Award for
Canine Excellence) in Law Enforcement
—was scheduled to be announced on
September 11. Instead, the recipient,
NYPD member Appollo, a 9-year-old
German Shepherd dog, and his handler,
Peter Davis, were called in to assist with
the rescue operations after the September
11 terror attacks. They arrived at the World
and rescue dog to arrive at the site after
the collapse of the World Trade Center.
“We got there right after the buildings
collapsed,” said Peter Davis. “To get to
the rubble, we had to go through almost
waist-deep water. All of a sudden Appollo
disappeared, fell into a hole. Then this big
out. He was on fire. I brushed off the
burning embers and he went right back to
searching.” Appollo lived another 5 years.
Bretagne’s story: the last surviving
Ground Zero dog.
Bretagne (pronounced “Brittany,”) a golden
retriever, was 2 years old when she and
her handler, Denise Corliss, were part of
the Texas Task Force 1 sent to the World
Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan
after two hijacked airlines brought down
the Twin Towers. They spent 10 days at
the scene searching rubble for human
remains. In the years that followed
9/11, and Corliss deployed together
to numerous disaster sites, including
Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and
Hurricane Ivan. Bretagne retired from
formal search work at age 9. On June 6,
2016, 16-year-old Bretagne, believed to be
the last surviving 9/11 Ground Zero search
dog, was euthanized. She was given a
workers lined the sidewalk as her body,
out. Tears streaked down some faces.
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