Colorado Parks and Wildlife Celebrates K-9 Officers with Retirement and Swearing-In Ceremonies, Announces Expansion of Statewide K-9 Program

Description: Left to right: DWM Brock McArdle is the handler for Cash. DWM Zach Picard is the handler for new K-9 officer, Sage.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Honors K-9 Officers with a Retirement Ceremony, a Swearing-in Ceremony, and Announcement of a New Statewide K-9 Program

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As a formal Colorado Parks and Wildlife honor guard stood at attention, CPW Officer Phil Gurule solemnly walked his partner, Sci, from their patrol truck to a stage where CPW officials waited.

Officers’ radios crackled as a Colorado State Patrol dispatcher reported the “last call” for Sci, who was retiring after nine years of duty with CPW in which he fearlessly approached poachers, armed offenders and searched for potentially dangerous suspects, trailers and trucks for contraband, all while protecting Officer Gurule’s back.

And although Sci is a Dutch Shepherd, his retirement from the agency as the senior member of CPW’s K-9 Team was as emotional a ceremony as for any longtime wildlife officer.

DWM Phil Gurule walked his K-9 partner, Sci, to their patrol truck for the dog's "last call" as part of a retirement ceremony after nine years of duty with CPW.

Following Sci’s retirement, CPW Officer Zach Picard brought forward Sage, a 9-month-old black lab, to be sworn in as the newest member of the CPW K-9 Team. 

Sage joins two other members of the CPW K-9 Unit: Samson, a Belgian Malinois, who has partnered with Officer Ian Petkash since 2019; and Cash, an 8-year-old black lab who has partnered for eight years with Officer Brock McArdle. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Ian Petkash demonstrates K-9 Officer Samson's ability to find spent bullet casings at Cheyenne Mountain State Park on Fri., Oct. 18.

In addition, CPW used the ceremony to announce a new statewide K-9 program expansion that will be fully staffed within the next year-and-a-half. CPW has been working on a pilot K-9 program since 2015.

“When Sci joined CPW in 2015, he launched a pilot program to determine if dogs could be valuable in wildlife management,” said CPW Assistant Chief of Law Enforcement Jim Hawkins. “Our K-9 pilot program has proven to be very beneficial in wildlife detection, detecting evidence related to criminal incidents and public engagement. We are excited to expand our K-9 program statewide.

“And we have one dog - Samson - that is especially valuable for bear management and hard releases. A ‘hard release’ is a non-lethal method designed to restore a bear’s natural fear of humans. We have seen very positive outcomes with hard releases, which help mitigate human-bear conflicts and ultimately save the bears' lives.”

In April 2024, Colorado’s 2024-25 Long Appropriations Bill opened the door for a new Colorado Parks and Wildlife statewide K-9 program. The new statewide K-9 program will have a lead K-9 Supervisor and five K-9 handlers assigned to the new statewide unit. 

“Overall, our sportsmen and sportswomen highly support this program,” Hawkins said. 

“I have received many comments saying, ‘It’s nice to see where my hunting and fishing license fees are going.’”

Hawkins explained the dogs in the statewide program will be “single-purpose” vs. “dual-purpose” dogs. Dual-purpose dogs are trained in suspect apprehension/handler protection in addition to training for detecting poaching and bear management.

The new dogs are not being taught those tactics and will strictly be used to detect wildlife, article searches, illegally trafficked species, and bear management. CPW will also explore other avenues, such as searching for lost persons in the backcountry or aquatic nuisance species, in the future. 

“Washington is the only other state that uses dogs for bear management purposes, so that makes us one of the first agencies in the nation,” Hawkins said. “It’s exciting to be pushing the envelope on that.”

K-9 officers in the statewide program will:

• Respond to complaints of problem bears throughout Colorado

• Assist in “hard releases,” a non-lethal process designed to restore a bear’s natural fear of humans

• Detect and locate poached or illegal wildlife and other evidence

• Visit schools and public events around the state to help share CPW’s mission

Here is a handout with more information on the careers of the K-9s honored at today’s ceremony.

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