Friday, September 20, 2013

Trackr K-9


Stephen Chernin / AP
This is a neat story of Trakr (c.1994 - April 2009), a Canadian police dog hailed as a hero for finding the last survivor of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. He and his handler, Officer James Symington successfully found and rescued the last of 20 survivors, Genelle Guzman on September 12th after Guzman lay trapped for 26 hours in the rubble. For their efforts, Trakr and Officer Symington were awarded the "Extraordinary Service to Humanity Award". Trakr was also named one of history’s most heroic animals by Time magazine. You can read more in the original TIME Magazine article.

Upon Trackr's death in 2009, Symington entered an essay contest sponsored by BioArts International, to find the world's most "clone-worthy" dog. Symington's essay was chosen out of a field of 200 and Trackr was officially cloned in June of 2009. Trackr's cloning resulted in 5 puppies.

You can read his full story at Wikipedia here.

Sources: Wikipedia, TIME Magazine

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