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A police dog handler has spoken of his sadness at losing his 3-year-old dog, Enzo, allegedly drowned by a wanted man.
"I was gutted," Constable Kayne Cording said yesterday. "He was my mate and I knew he would stick up for me to the bitter end. He was so dedicated and loyal."
Enzo's alleged killer, who was fleeing police pursuing him over family violence, appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday charged with causing the death of a police dog.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
Enzo is the 22nd police dog to be killed on duty in the past 34 years.
He had been working with Mr Cording at Tauranga for 18 months and, two weeks ago, became certified to work with the armed offenders squad.
He had done only one job with the AOS before his death on Thursday morning in the Kaimai Ranges, west of Tauranga, after tracking the 20-year-old fugitive through dense bush for 5-6km. The man had fled when officers executed an arrest warrant at a rural property on State Highway 29.
Mr Cording said he and the dog had begun to tire and he was considering turning back when Enzo indicated the suspect was near.
The policeman issued a challenge to the man to surrender but he did not, so Enzo was let loose.
That was the last the officer saw of his dog until he found his body more than two hours later in a gully.
Mr Cording knew something was wrong when he called Enzo and he did not return.
He searched alone for 45 minutes before dog handlers from around the Bay of Plenty arrived to help him.
"We just wanted to find the dog but we really needed to find the suspect too," Mr Cording said.
The officers combed the bush, crawling at times, until another police dog picked up Enzo's scent.
Mr Cording knew the dog was dead the moment he saw him and carried him out of the bush to a waiting vehicle. "My mind was a bit of a blur. I was gutted."
His wife was also upset and had to break the news to their 5-year-old twin girls.
Mr Cording praised the officers who came to his aid, particularly his fellow Tauranga dog handlers, Constables Derek Orchard, Logan Marsh and James Muir.
Enzo had attended many jobs in his short career and the head of the Tauranga dog unit, Sergeant Paul Selby, said he was an outstanding police dog.
"Nothing fazed him. You could take him anywhere, put him in any situation and he just handled it."
Enzo had also caught the eye of other dog handlers at his armed offenders squad training in Trentham.
"There were calls from around the country to steal him," Mr Selby said.
Mr Cording said his only comfort at losing Enzo was knowing the dog, although only 32kg, would have put up a huge struggle with his attacker.
The suspect was finally located at 5pm on Thursday after a search involving 50 officers and two helicopters.
