A Fallen Hero

Police dogs are expendable.

It's a hard truth, especially for their handlers but it is the truth. The whole point of a K-9 is the ability to send the dog into situations that have been deemed too dangerous for a human officer. The dogs do as they're asked. They go into dark buildings in the middle of the night to find the bad guys. They charge after the bad guys when they're running away. They do whatever they're asked to do simply because they want to please their person.

The dog above is Sirius.

He served the people of New York as a bomb detection dog for the Port Authority. On September 11, 2001, his handler David Lim left him in his kennel in the basement of the World Trade Center. Lim felt the dog would be safer there as he went off to help with rescue efforts. He told his partner and his friend he'd be back to get him.

Lim spent several hours trapped in the falling debris.

Sirius was killed when the towers collapsed.

On January 22, 2002 when his body was recovered, Sirius was given the same honors as the human fire fighters and police officers who had fallen in the tragedy. All search efforts were stopped. The huge machines fell silent and those on the site lined up to pay respects as Sirius's body was carried out draped by an American flag. Officer David Lim was there; he kept his promise to his friend.

They are supposed to be disposable. They are supposed to go willingly into trouble when it is deemed to risky to send in a person.

Clearly, that is not the case.

They are much, much more.

Clearly they are heroes.