Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently announced it is expanding its K-9 officer program following the success of the agency’s initial pilot program.
Previously, CPW had initiated a five-year pilot program with three dogs – Cash, Samson and Sci. Sci, the first K-9 officer in the program, retired in October of 2024.
Following the success of the pilot program, CPW has expanded the K-9 program and is in the process of adding new K-9 officers around the state. One fully staffed, CPW will have six K-9 officers.
K-9 officers aid CPW wildlife managers in detecting the presence of wildlife, whether that’s checking hunters or even identifying endangered species in the field. Along with assisting in wildlife law enforcement cases, dogs can also be used in black bear management.
CPW recently promoted former District Wildlife Manager Ian Petkash, who handles K-9 Samson, to the K-9 Unit Supervisor position. Petkash joins the podcast to let us know plans for expanding the K-9 program and provide a better understanding of how CPW’s wildlife officers utilize dogs in the field and what it takes to build the program.
Podcast hosted by John Livingston and edited by Ted Mitchell. Art19 is the host platform, and people can also find the podcast online at https://art19.com/shows/colorado-outdoors
3 Responses
really neat