K9 Bunty – Kalaburagi, India

Police dog Bunty dies

community It was a unique funeral at the Police Department in Kalaburagi on Thursday, as officials sobbed at the demise of Bunty, a service dog of the Dog Squad of Kalaburagi Police. The police honored the sniffer dog by giving it a gun salute. According to Dog Squad official D.S. Sharanabasavappa, who was handling Bunty, the 13-year-old German Shepherd died of age-related illness. Bunty was bought by the Police Department in June 2007 when it was nearly four months old. After completing a six-month-long training between July 2007 and January 2008 at Canine Training Centre in Adugodi in Bengaluru, it was inducted into the Dog Squad of the Kalaburagi Police for detecting explosives. Mr. Sharanabasavappa said that its tracking skills helped the Police Department detect explosives and provide security at high-profile events involving Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and VVIPs not only in Kalaburagi but across the State. The canine was part of the Dog Squad during the Dasara event in Mysuru. The faithful canine served the department for 12 years and seven months, he added. As of now, the Kalaburagi Police Dog Squad has four canines, three detecting crimes — Jimmy, Rita and Ruby, and one explosives detection dog — Rani.

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.