K9 Tunga – India

Died – 8/26/22

“Tunga” of Lady Singam fame is no more

Dog Tunga, who had helped the police to track down criminals in many important cases, died of illness on Friday.Doberman breed Tunga Dawan helped to detect more than 70 cases of murder and 35 cases of theft after coming to the line of dogs. Tunga, who has been in the police department for 11 years, was honored by senior police officers like state law and order department ADGP Amar Kumar Pandey and district in-charge minister. At the recently held 75th Independence Amrita Mahotsava program, it attracted attention by performing various stunts. Tunga was suffering from fever for the past few days and breathed her last at the animal hospital in the city on Friday. On Friday evening, the last rites of the police department were performed at the district police parade ground. As senior officers of the police department, all the staff expressed their condolence. He played a major role in the investigation of the murder case in Sulakere Gudda of Channagiri Taluk, 11 km from Sulakere Gudda. Odi had tipped off the killer. The murder of a woman in the farm of Pusulamadu village of the district, the murder of a woman in Nyamati, the case of a shepherd being hacked to death with an ax in a village near Malebennur, the murder of a woman in Harpanahalli taluk, etc. played an important role in tipping off the culprits of dozens of murder, robbery and theft cases.

Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.