The Pennsylvania Department of Correction’s Office of Special Investigations and Intelligence is conducting an investigation into the death of one of its drug interdiction dogs after he was accidentally left in a vehicle following a training exercise at the State Correctional Institute -Rockview in Benner Township.
Totti, a 2-year-old yellow labrador retriever, was left in the car for about two hours beginning at 12:44 p.m. on July 7. Department of Corrections spokesperson Susan McNaughton said that when Totti’s trainer, Sgt. Chad Holland, realized the dog had been in the vehicle, he and other staff raced to remove Totti and worked to cool him down with water and ice.
The dog was still conscious when he was taken to a veterinary clinic, but died that evening. The high temperature that afternoon was 86 degrees. According to the American Veterinary Medicine Association, the temperature in the car could have reached 130 degrees or higher during that time period.
McNaughton said Holland has been with the department for nine years. He has been removed from dog handling duties and placed on desk duty while the investigation is conducted. Other dogs that he worked with have been given over to other trainers during the investigation as well.
‘He is extremely devastated,’ McNaughton said. ‘He is really having a very difficult time. The whole Drug Interdiction Unit is devastated. They are like a family and they are very close to the dogs.’
The Drug Interdiction Unit is part of the department’s Security Division and is, in part, responsible for detecting narcotics in the state prisons. This was the first incident of its kind since the unit was established in 1995. The unit has 20 handlers and 22 dogs.
McNaughton said Totti had been with the department for about five weeks and was in training to replace an older dog in the unit. Dogs and their handlers have regular mandatory training at a central boot camp and at Rockview. The dog and handler teams work all across the state.
‘DOC employees are extremely saddened by this tragic event,’ read a statement from the department earlier this week.
