Bristol County, Mass. – K-9 dogs are well known for their ability to detect oncoming seizures, explosive particles, narcotics, and other contraband, but it appears working dogs can learn yet another trick.
“Huntah” and “Duke,” 14-month-old Labrador Retrievers, work weekly across 15 school facilities in Bristol County, us-regions, searching and sniffing for the odor that infectious-disease leaves behind.
Bristol County’s Sheriff’s Office is the first in the nation to deploy the COVID-sniffing K-9s in the region.
“It’s giving the community a feeling of a little more security and know that at least if my child is going to school or my husband’s working in an area, they’re not going to bring home COVID because law enforcement is proactively looking to sanitize where those things might pop up,” Thomas M. Hodgson, Sheriff of Bristol County, Massachusetts, tells Fox News.
FLORIDA K-9S HONORED WITH PURPLE HEARTS AFTER BEING SHOT IN THE LINE OF DUTY
K-9 "Huntah" sits to signal his K-9 Handler Paul Douglas that he detected the scent of COVID near a locker.
Dr. Kenneth Furton, founder of the COVID K-9 detection program at Florida International University (FIU) in miami” target=”_blank”>Miami<
BarkBox, a pet care company located in Chinatown, new-york-city” target=”_blank”>New York<
“I think we’re in a world where kids are afraid, so if you’re a youngster, you’ve only known school to be masked and scary. So to us, having them see we’re doing everything we can to keep them safe, I always think is the best thing you can do,” added Kohler.
Parents will be notified by the elementary school-reopening-plans” target=”_blank”>school<
“Now I can have recess with friends and have fun with them. But on online school, I can only see them on a little camera. And I can’t play with them at all unless I talk,” Caleb Lopes said to Fox News.
With the help of Huntah and Duke, the elementary school can fully operate and keep its doors open to students and staff.
“I feel good about having the dogs here because in case there’s COVID in the school, the cops will know and the principal or other people will tell us, and it will be a lot more safe with the dogs”
Fox News’ Perry Chiaramonte contributed reporting to this story.
