It was a unique funeral at the Police Department in Kalaburagi on Thursday, as officials sobbed at the demise of Bunty, a service dog of the Dog Squad of Kalaburagi Police.
The police honoured the sniffer dog by giving it a gun salute.
According to Dog Squad official D.S. Sharanabasavappa, who was handling Bunty, the 13-year-old German Shepherd died of age-related illness. Bunty was bought by the Police Department in June 2007 when it was nearly four months old. After completing a six-month-long training between July 2007 and January 2008 at Canine Training Centre in Adugodi in Bengaluru, it was inducted into the Dog Squad of the Kalaburagi Police for detecting explosives.
Mr. Sharanabasavappa said that its tracking skills helped the Police Department detect explosives and provide security at high-profile events involving Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and VVIPs not only in Kalaburagi but across the State. The canine was part of the Dog Squad during the Dasara event in Mysuru. The faithful canine served the department for 12 years and seven months, he added.
As of now, the Kalaburagi Police Dog Squad has four canines, three detecting crimes — Jimmy, Rita and Ruby, and one explosives detection dog — Rani.
