K9 Foxy – Bapatla, India

Bapatla Police Pay Tributes to Tracker Dog Foxy

The last rites of Foxy, a 5.3-year-old police tracker dog who served in the bandobast wing of the Bapatla police department since 2022 and died due to illness, were conducted with police honors on Wednesday. Bapatla Superintendent of Police (SP) Tushar Dudi paid floral tributes to Foxy at the dog kennel building, presented a guard of honor, and performed the last rites. He recalled that Foxy served for two years as a tracker in the police bandobast wing, helping the department crack cases of theft, rape and murder. “The death of Foxy, considered a member of the police family, is a great loss to the department. Foxy also played a key role in solving many crimes,” the SP noted. He further recollected that the Foxy played a key role in cracking a rape and murder case under the Mangalagiri police station limits; and also won a medal in the tracker wing at the 27th batch refresher training held in Mangalagiri in 2021, where she came first. Foxy, a female Doberman, was trained in the tracker wing for eight months at the Mangalagiri APSP 6th Battalion. After completing her training on March 31, 2020, Foxy served with the Guntur Rural police. She was assigned to the Bapatla district police two years ago and armed reserve constable U. Yedukondalu has been Foxy’s handler ever since.

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.