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Died – 1/30/24
Handler – Wesley Seals
Sudden passing of retired K-9 ‘Bak’ leaves Seals family devastated
Wesley Seals and his family lost a beloved member of their family earlier this week, and the Hawkins County law enforcement community also lost an extremely prolific and successful K-9 officer.Retired Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office K-9 “Bak”, passed away suddenly Tuesday night at home with the Seals family.During his career Bak was responsible for taking thousands of grams of meth off the street. He served the HCSO for more than five years, but he was also the go-to dog for the FBI, DEA, and Third Judicial District Drug Task Force on their major investigations in this region.Bak’s success in sniffing out illegal narcotics was highly publicized throughout his career in the local media. What wasn’t publicized were the federal cases that Bak played a significant role in, securing the indictments of nearly 400 federal level drug suspects.“He was a dope hunting fool,” Seals told the Review. “We were always requested by the FBI, DEA, Third Judicial Drug Task Force. They trusted him that much. He did tracking. He did apprehension. Article searching. Missing persons. There were several things he was good at.”Seals added, “But number one thing he the was good at was finding drugs. He was unquestionable with his drug finding. Our training averaged 20-35 hours per month, and that paid off in the end. He’s got a list of successful drug busts a mile long. He was very good.”But, as good as Bak was at work, he was better at home. Seals said Bak knew how to turn off the job when he got home and become a loving and loyal house dog.Bak impacted the lives of many criminals during is life, but he impacted even more lives of Hawkins County youths. When police and rescue personnel visited schools on “Safety Days”, Bak was always the star of the show. Seals said Bak loved children, he loved the attention they gave him, and he loved showing off his skills.In one week in 2014 Seals learned he was going to be a dad on a Monday, and that he was promoted to the HCSO’s K-9 officer on a Friday.For the next five years Seals and Bak were together almost constantly, both on duty and off.In 2019 when Seals was hired by the Rogersville Police Department the County Commission agreed to retire and “surplus” Bak so the county could donate him to Seals.“I’ve lost dogs in the past but nothing compares to losing a dog you worked with day in and day out,” Seals said. “This this been a gut wrenching, heart wrenching ordeal for my family. It’s hard to explain the love for your dog, but he was also a work partner — watching my back, keeping his eyes on me 360 degrees, 24/7 — your don’t realize what that means to you.”The Seals family has been inundated with condolences and prayers since Bak’s passing was announced. Chris Christian from Christian-Sells Funeral Home offered to oversee Bak’s funeral arrangements at no cost the Seals family.Seals told the Review he anticipates there will be a memorial service for Bak to honor his service to the county, but as of Wednesday plans hadn’t been finalized.
