SHREVEPORT, La. – The Shreveport, Louisiana, police department is mourning the lack of one among its K9s that died of a heat-related injury after chasing down suspects on Saturday.
In a Facebook post, the Shreveport Police Department said K9 handler Sgt. Jeff Hammer and his partner K9 Harrie began to help patrol officers in locating suspects who fled from a stolen vehicle just after 4 p.m. on June 24.
Police said Harrie relentlessly tracked the suspects and suffered from the heat-related injury throughout the pursuit.
Harrie was immediately rushed to a neighborhood veterinary hospital, but despite all efforts to avoid wasting him, he died of that injury.
Harrie was a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois and served the residents of Shreveport since 2018, in keeping with police.
Within the Facebook post, police said that at one point, Harrie was regarded as a “lost cause” but was assigned to Hammer, who’s a long-time K9 handler and animal lover.
With the assistance of the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office K9 trainers, Hammer was in a position to turn Harrie into an “exceptional” K9 partner that began assisting in training other police K9s.
Harrie then became one of the crucial sought-after K9s in the world, in keeping with police.
“Please keep Sergeant Hammer, the K9 team, and everybody who loved Harrie in your thought and prayers,” police said within the Facebook post.
Dangerously hot temperatures have been baking the South for nearly two weeks, and Shreveport’s high temperatures have been soaring into the 90s with “feels-like” temperatures well above 100 degrees.
