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4 - THE PORT PERRY STAR, Tuesday, September 25, 2001 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Four legged cops give it their all The will to win and survive By Rik Davie Port Perry Star In spite of a week that would have tried the patience of anybody, Durham Regional Police Constable Dave Mounsteven is carrying on with the battle to gain pro- tection under the law for his canine partner. The well known duo of Const. Mounsteven and Durham Regional Police Service Dog Chase have been involved in a cam- paign to have police ser- vice animals (horses and dogs) protected by their own section under the pro- posed changes to the Criminal Code that will stiffen fines and imprison- ment periods for those who commit cruelty to animals. However, just weeks before the legislation was set to move to the House of Commons the two driving forces for the law's passage would 'both lie near death. Const. Mounsteven and Chase have been the sub- ject of newspaper and national magazine stories as well as the recently aired documentary "Chase, K9 Hero". With help from the . five other K-9 Unit teams on the Durham ser- vice, the pair have lobbied local politicians and spo- ken before the justice com- mittee in Ottawa as part of their battle. Oshawa MPP Ivan Grose has championed the amendment and a person- al note from Prime Minister Jean Chretien has assured backing for the Police Service Dog amendment. "It is a common mis- nomer," Const. Mounsteven said, police officers and that per- sons who kill or harm them are punished severely. The fact is that much of the time simple cruelty to animals = charges laid against per- sons who harm these ani-~ mals are dropped in order "that. _that.". Ne police dogs are considered - | Const. Nounge meeting with fate hap- pened as the two searched a Durham home for a sus- pect believed to be men- tally disturbed and violent. As he directed Chase with his hands to the bot- tom of a closet door so the dog could "sniff out the guy" the unexpected hap- pened. According to police sources the suspect burst out of the closet door armed with a kitchen knife. The suspect knocked the officer to the floor and allegedly' prepared to attack the helpless cop as he lay on his back in the darkened bedroom. As a back-up officer prepared to aide his colleague, "Chase has got me, I'm done" praise; ; ong, : ous Bodily. ha and he saved suspect's life. i C on §- to Mounsteven's ky "oft said "i gave that dog on big hug; 1 can: te lye "After: Hel to gain convictions on more serious charges." Just weeks after return- - ing from Western Canada where he attended the funeral of a police service dog who was shot and .- killed while protecting offi-.,:. vif TE cers of the Calgary Police": faq Service, Const. Mounsteven had his life saved by Chase... nearly lost his friend for good. Const. Mounsteven's and then ~ their young son who plays with the big Mounsteven. a "that struck to the core "of. all. who moved, he took the guy. and got his interest: away from us and béy-am 1 glad," said Const. Mounsteven: "fs really thought: 'that was it. 1 4 thought to myself, this guy - service dogs: for y's protec : burly dog in the family's Scugog Township backyard, the news was good. Chase had developed a kidney stone, but it had been found early and the dog would recover to full- service quickly. The opera- tion would keep the big dog down for several weeks, but he would patrol the streets of Durham yet again. But tragedy still stalked the battle for a law to pro- tect the service dogs across Canada. A call came to The Star from C on st few nights 'later depend. -on these their ~communi- The efforts to change the laws surrounding police service animals has been a two-pronged attack led on the West Coast by one of the RCMP's most experienced dog handlers and -a partner with Const. Mounsteven, who took the fight to Ottawa with him, Pete Nazaroff. Corporal Nazaroff, now working on the RCMP's new breeding = program to develop police service dogs for use on Canada's police forces, reluc- tantly handed >, over his own canine part- ner, Vulcan, a six-year-old saddle-back shepherd to a new handler who tock Nazaroff's old friend to New Brunswick where the dog's uncanny ability to search out marijuana fields would be put to use. On a rocky hillside, miles fror roads and in a marijuana field north of St. John, Vulcan's handler watched as the dog head- ed into a bushy area where suspected marijuang crops grew. eed my "The next' sound he . heard were four shots in 'quick succession. He raced . to the area where he found | <.Yulcan bleeding from sev- "eral bullet wounds and 2 signs that the fog | had sur- A | [ , and was his life out on the die was owed by an air- lift to"the College '§ Medicine in Prince Edward Island... and still the dog clung to life. "What can | say," Corp. Nazaroff told The Star in an interview from his British Columbia home, "what can anyone say about the incredible will to win and survive these dogs pos- sess." Vulcan is clinging to life and waiting until doctors think he is strong enough to remove a bullct lodged near his spine. It will deter- mine life or death for the ~dog. . "Uf he makes it," Corp. Nazaroff said, "we have -already decided he will 'come home with me and he will: live out his retirement here. These dogs are mem- bers (of the RCMP) and we do not forget our mem- tbe" Const. "Mounsteven is waiting to hear the out- come of his friend's tragedy with more determination than ever to see the battle for-police service dog pro- tection to a successful com- pletion. | "Iwill keep on working to see that.these amazing animals get the protection under the law they deserve," Const. Mounsteven said. "I hope Vulcan and Chase will be here to see it, a lot of other good dogs won't be." 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