Drug-sniffing dog almost died after being exposed to fentanyl

A drug-sniffing dog overdosed and almost died coming into contact with fentanyl, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office said.

On May 11, a Drug Task Force K-9 named Sully and his handler were assisting with a search warrant at an Everett apartment. Sully and his handler entered the apartment, and after about 10 minutes, Sully indicated several areas in the apartment with illegal drugs.

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Sully was returned to his crate in the police car while officers conducted a second search. Around 15 minutes later, Sully was found unresponsive in his kennel.

Sully was normally “very hyper,” so his handler knew something was off, and after trying to wake him up, the officer administered Narcan to the unconscious K-9 and called for backup.

They drove Sully to the emergency veterinarian, and upon arrival, he started to wake up.

Medical staff checked his vitals and monitored him for some time before releasing him. He has since made a full recovery.

Talking to Jason Rantz on KTTH, Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney praised the handler for their quick thinking in the situation.

“We followed up with a drug task force, and they got a whole bunch of fentanyl pills out of the hands of the people who are distributing that stuff. But a police dog almost died making that happen,” Fortney said. “I mean, just a small exposure like that police dog and that dog almost died yesterday. If it wasn’t for the quick actions of the handler, that dog would be dead.”

A video was later shared on the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Facebook page of Sully running around and playing.

A large number of drugs were seized from the apartment, including cocaine, meth, heroin, and fentanyl.

Task Force detectives also discovered there was a toddler living inside the apartment at the time.

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