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Died – 11/22/22
Handler – DFC Michael Piasecki
Zora had a distinctive mean-sounding howl, the kind that would make a suspect surrender.She also was gentle, loyal and protective.That’s the dichotomy of a police dog — aggressive on demand, but affable as a family pet when off-duty.Zora was all of those things, and more, according to her K-9 handler DFC Michael Piasecki of the Kent County Sheriff’s Office.“She was a fantastic dog, phenomenal,” Piasecki said of the Belgian Malinois, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last month, succumbing to a fast-moving cancer in her hip.She was 11 ½, and had been Piasecki’s partner since 2016 with the sheriff’s offices in Queen Anne’s and Kent. She lived with the family and was cared for as their pet. Piasecki has been in law enforcement for 14 years, most of that time in Kent County.He rejoined the KCSO in the summer of 2019, and Zora, a dual-purpose dog trained in drug detection and criminal apprehension, came along as part of a package deal.Of all the calls that DFC Piasecki and Zora responded to, the deputy quickly recalled two of the more memorable ones.Piasecki and Zora were assisting a Queen Anne’s County deputy who pursued robbery suspects from Kent Island to state Route 404 and then turned around to head back west before stopping on the shoulder of the road, jumping out of the car and running into a farm field. The suspects hid in a large stand of trees about 200 yards into the field.“We pulled up and I got Zora out and started putting her tracking harness on,” Piasecki wrote in a text message. “She had this trademark gravelly, raspy howl that sounded like no other dog I’ve heard. She sounded so mean.”Piasecki said he and a howling Zora no sooner headed into the field to start the track when the three suspects all came out of the tree line and surrendered after hearing Zora and seeing her coming for them.Another time, law enforcement from several agencies were doing drug detection training in a doctor’s office in Salisbury. Piasecki said he led Zora into a small bathroom to sniff and she appeared to show no indication that there were drugs in the room.When Piasecki turned to lead Zora out of the bathroom, she decided to make one final check under the sink. That’s when the dog’s collar got caught on a thin plastic water supply line to the sink, and snapped the line. “All the handlers there were all running around frantically trying to find a water valve shutoff,” Piasecki said in the text message. “We eventually found it up in the ceiling, but it wasn’t before the entire office was flooded with 3 inches of standing water throughout.”The training group had to go to Lowe’s to buy squeegees and mops, and the building manager brought a large fan.“My training group always says that was one of the most memorable training moments … when Zora and I flooded an entire office by ourselves,” Piasecki said in the text message.Zora, described on the Kent County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page as a “faithful partner” of DFC Piasecki, officially retired Oct. 12.The month before, right about the time that the sheriff’s office was preparing to add a new K-9, Zora started to develop a limp. In the past she’d had limps that would come and go, but this was different, Piasecki remembered thinking to himself.What at first was thought to be a torn ACL of the left rear leg was a hip bone that “looked horrible,” the veterinarian told Piasecki. The diagnosis was confirmed by X-ray.Piasecki said he was waiting for the limp to clear so that he could take Zora to work and say this was her last day in a celebratory send-off.But a month down the road, he could tell she wasn’t getting any better.A return trip to the vet on Nov. 18 “confirmed my fears,” a fast-moving cancer, Piasecki said.Piasecki was given pain medicine to keep Zora comfortable until he made the decision to put her to sleep.That day came on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, after Zora had ridden with Piasecki for his entire shift. They stopped at the Piasecki home for one last cuddle with the family before returning to the vet’s office. “All four of us had a good cry together,” Piasecki said of his wife Tracy and sons Mason, 17, and Ethan, 12, the animal lover in the house.DFC Piasecki was at his K-9 partner’s side at the end.The sheriff’s office acknowledged Zora’s passing with a post on its Facebook: “We offer our deepest condolences to DFC Piasecki and his family in this difficult time. We salute K9 Zora for her faithful service to the citizens of Kent County. We hope your eternity is full of green grass, sunshine, and endless treats. Rest in Peace.”Some of Zora’s ashes are in a memorial stone in the flower bed in the front of the Piasecki family’s home in Rock Hall; the flower bed near the driveway “was her spot.”It’s been three weeks since Zora’s passing, and the Piasecki family still mourns her.“We have our moments,” DFC Piasecki said in a telephone interview. “But we’ve been blown away and humbled by all the support, text messages, phone calls. It makes the sting easier.”
