The Missouri Department of Conservation has added several furry new agents to its team. To educate the community on the department’s new K-9 unit and program, it will be hosting a meet and greet at the Perryville Senior Center Oct. 21, beginning at 6 p.m. There is no registration required to attend.
The Missouri Department of Conservation jumpstarted the K-9 program in Dec. 2020 and the five dogs were trained and certified police officers in Missouri and the Conservation Department,” Agent Cpl. Alan Lamb said. “This is a way to show the public what our program is and what we are capable of doing.”
Lamb’s dog, Tex, a German Shorthaired Pointer, is certified in three areas: human tracking, evidence recovery and wildlife detection. Lamb believes that Tex, along with the four other canines spread throughout the state will be a huge help for the MDC.
“The dogs can help find lost children or hunters, along with sniffing out firearms, and deer, or birds that hunters may have shot illegally,” Lamb said. “Anything with a human scent these dogs are trained to find.”
The department has two pointers and three labrador retrievers, while many people think of police dogs as German shepherds, the MDC went with canines that are associated more with hunting.
The department wanted to go with sporting, or floppy-eared dogs,” Lamb said. “Hunters can relate better to these breeds and these types of dogs already have it ingrained in them to hunt and seek out wildlife.”