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Paws and reflect: Albuquerque puts up park signs paying homage to hero dogs
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To their families, they are known as Wheezy and Zorko. To the city of Albuquerque, they are heroes.
Now people walking their pups around Albuquerque parks will be able to read about dogs who devoted their lives to catching criminals and sniffing out explosives in the name of public safety.
On Thursday morning, the city unveiled two signs at Vista del Norte Park’s dog park honoring an 8-year-old English Labrador named Louise — also known as Wheezy — and a Belgian Malinois, Zorko, who assisted with numerous fire and police investigations across New Mexico.
Each sign has the dog’s photo along with information on “what they’ve done to make a paw-sitive impact,” city Parks and Recreation spokesperson Emily Moore said in a news release. The city will be unveiling eight more signs paying homage to other dogs who were utilized by the Albuquerque Police Department, Albuquerque Fire Rescue and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
“I can’t express how much gratitude we have,” Wheezy’s handler, Albuquerque Fire Rescue Lt. Ron Gunderson, said during a news conference Thursday. “We live in this neighborhood, and we train at this park quite a bit, so having the plaque right here is pretty special.”
Wheezy is the first nationally accredited accelerant detection K-9, which is “similar to a bomb dog,” Gunderson said. Wheezy is one of 60 accelerant detection K-9s across the country.
During fire investigations, Gunderson said, “she alerts us, we collect the evidence and then it gets sent off to a laboratory where it’s tested and ... classified for us, which helps in the prosecution of arsonists.”
Another K-9 honored Thursday was Zorko with the Albuquerque Police Department. During his career, Zorko assisted with the arrest of over 80 violent felony suspects across the metro area and state, according to the city.
APD Cmdr. Gerard Bartlett said there was no way “we could ever convey how meaningful” Zorko was and how important K-9s are to the department.
“As a young police officer coming up,” Bartlett said, “I would see the hours and hours and months of training, never-ending training that they would have to complete in order to be effective on any critical mission that they encountered. ...
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“We’re very fortunate to have them to work with and very fortunate to use them during critical incidents and tactical activations.”
Zorko’s sign will be put up at Westgate Community Center Park.
Honoring the dogs is part of a project called ABQ Stories of Us, which pays tribute to those who left a mark on the city’s historical landscape, Moore said, and the dogs made a big impact on the community.
Moore said Parks and Recreation Director Dave Simon came up with the idea for the signs.
“We wanted to paws, reflect on, and honor the incredible impact these dogs have in our community,” Simon said in the release. “This is a pup-grade to our dog park experience.”
