Five police dogs, which would soon to be retired, are up for adoption, the New Taipei City Police Department announced on Thursday.
Six Labrador retrievers are to retire at the end of this year, the department’s K-9 unit said.
However, the human partner of the department’s popular Lucky Star (福星) has already announced on social media that he would adopt the star pooch upon retirement.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Police Department
The hardworking canines that are up for adoption include Lucky Star’s siblings Shiny (亮亮) and Fei Ta (飛達), alongside Alpha (首領) and Xina, as well as Yutu, a drug-detecting dog.
K-9 unit head Ma Ching-chi (馬清基) said Labradors usually have very stable personalities and love people, which is why it is relatively easy for handlers to train them to become drug or explosives finders.
Moreover, unlike breeds like German shepherds which can intimidate some people, Labradors rarely make people feel uneasy, he said.
Five retiring explosive-detecting dogs had safeguarded the perimeter of events such as Double Ten National Day celebrations, presidential inaugurations and foreign dignitaries’ visits, he added.
Yutu’s career is also decorated with discovering evidence that helped police make successful drug busts, he said.
Dogs in K-9 units usually serve for four to seven years, and the five police canines are on average about seven years old, he said.
Ma said the pups were raised to follow strict routines, so he believed they would easily adapt to the retirement and being free from work stress.
However, Ma said he had observed that retired police pooches often receive too much love and attention in their new homes which could lead to them becoming overweight.
Prospective adopters should keep in mind the breed’s insatiable appetite and refrain from overfeeding the dogs, he said, adding that they should provide the dogs with active lifestyles for the sake of their four-legged family members.
The unit said it has held three retired K-9 adoption events since 2022.
Each of the adoption drives were met with enthusiasm, receiving more than 100 applications each time, it said.
People interested in adopting the police dogs can download Chinese-language adoption papers via the department’s Facebook page, it added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS