Page 97 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2014

traumatic causes of death or euthanasia that occurred accidents) were categorized as traumatic. Almost two-
while dogs were in service. Gathering canine casualty thirds (63.3%; n = 549) of the reported deaths were
data can potentially assist in better prevention and treat- categorized as nontraumatic. Only the traumatic cases
ment of injuries in this specialized population of work- were selected for inclusion in this review to ensure com-
ing dogs. pliance with the goal of this study to focus on causes
of death that could be considered potentially prevent-
able, to shed light on the importance of understanding,
Methods
recording, and properly preparing for current needs in
To delineate the key factors related to fatal outcomes, working dog casualty care.
causes of death were investigated for working dogs used
in civilian law enforcement in the United States between An attempt to gather further data from other online
the years 2002 and 2012. The primary website report- sources was made for each case, using online resources.
ing these incidents in one location, established in 2000, Key criteria were used to ensure the incidents were iden-
is maintained by the Connecticut Police Work Dog As- tical when investigating for further information on the
sociation (CPWDA). Dogs listed died or were eutha- Internet. If two or more incidents shared the same date,
14
nized while in service, meaning the dogs were working canine name, location, and incident description, the in-
for a police department, government, or security agency cidents were considered to be coincident, and additional
at the time of their death. The Officer Down Memorial information was extracted. Details such as breed, age,
Page (ODMP) also has a program dedicated to fallen and further description of incident or cause of death
canine officers, which launched in September 2012. were the main focus. In some cases, generally involving
15
Cases not listed on the CPWDA website but listed on ballistic trauma or heatstroke, detailed descriptions of
ODMP were combined for the current study. Both web- the circumstance surrounding the incident (e.g., friendly
sites are used as memorials and the data made available fire, confinement heat injury) could be found and were
were self-reported by the handler or other contributors recorded.
familiar with the incident (e.g., another handler, friend,
spouse).
Results
Cases reported to the websites are from agencies across Between the years of 2002 and 2012, there were 867 law
the United States, various countries, and the military. enforcement dogs reported to the CPWDA or ODMP
Data listed on the websites are organized by year of in- K9 database as being killed or euthanized while in ser-
cident. Additional data found on this website include vice in the United States with a known cause of death
canine name, location, and cause of death. Data on the (traumatic and nontraumatic). A large percentage of the
CPWDA website dates back to the Vietnam conflict cases (90%) had breed information available. Of those
and includes incidents from outside the United States. cases for which information was available, the majority
These data would be difficult to verify and, therefore, involved the German Shepherd Dog (48.7%), followed
were not included in the study. Military working dogs by the Belgian Malinois (23.4%).
were also excluded, since these websites are directed
toward the law enforcement community and, thus, the Traumatic causes of death made up 36.7% (n = 318) of
military dogs may be underrepresented. A number of those dogs killed or euthanized while in service (Table
cases reported on the websites had “unknown” listed 1). Cases that were placed in the “Other” category in-
as the cause of death. If further information could not clude deaths caused by animal attack (n = 7), drowning
be obtained, the case was not included in the data set. (n = 5), fire or smoke inhalation (n = 3), and electrocu-
Finally, the time frame of the study was limited to cre- tion/lightning (n = 1). The top three traumatic causes of
ate a more manageable and representative population of death include being struck by a vehicle, heatstroke, and
law enforcement dogs by removing incidents occurring ballistic penetrating trauma.
before 2002, 2 years after the memorial site went online.
Further detailed information was found for the majority
Remaining data were organized and various causes of of the heatstroke cases (n = 64, 81%) through various
death were tabulated and compared. Causes of death online news reports. The majority of these cases with
were separated into two main categories: nontraumatic a known cause (n = 48, 75%) could be classified as a
and traumatic. Deaths attributed to an illness or patho- confinement heat injury: meaning the dog was left unat-
physiology (e.g., cancer, gastric dilatation-volvulus, tended in a patrol car causing the dog’s body tempera-
degenerative diseases, other medical conditions) were ture to increase resulting in their death. The confinement
categorized as nontraumatic. Deaths caused by an ex- heat injury deaths could be further defined by situations
ternal circumstance that may have been prevented in which dogs were unintentionally left in the car for
(e.g., blunt trauma, gunshot wound [GSW], falls, other an extended period of time (n = 25) or were reportedly

Canine Deaths in Civilian Law Enforcement Service 87