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| K-9 Yanic with Partner, SDFC Todd Fleenor. |
It is with a heavy heart Sheriff Timothy Cameron announces the passing of K-9 Yanic, a Belgium Malinois. The K-9 was acquired by the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office in 2004 from the Gaffney Police Department in South Carolina. Yanic served as a patrol and narcotics detection dog. He was partner to Cpl. Edward Evans and Senior Dfc. Todd Fleenor.
Throughout his years of service, Yanic and his partners participated in numerous K-9 tracks, apprehensions, drug searches, demonstrations and community events. Yanic and his partners are credited with several important apprehensions to include: the apprehension of a subject on July 17, 2005 who assaulted two law enforcement officers in St. Mary’s County, the track and apprehension of Paul Anthony Pitner who escaped from the St. Mary’s County Detention Center on March 30, 2007, and, in January of this year, the apprehension of a man who severely beat his girlfriend in their Lexington Park home.
In 2004 and 2005 Evans and Yanic participated in the Annual Iron Dog Challenge which was sponsored by
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| Yanic trains with Fleenor and Cpl. Edward Evans. |
the Pennsylvania Police Work Dog Association. The Iron Dog Challenge is a three mile course where each K-9 team must negotiate man-made and natural obstacles, demonstrate marksmanship, a K-9 carry and an officer rescue drag. The team must also demonstrate various police K-9 specialties such as criminal apprehension, narcotic detection, bomb detection, and/or a rescue find. Both years Yanic and Evans placed in the competition.
Recently Yanic was diagnosed with cancer and on Nov. 6, Yanic had to be euthanized. Police K-9s serve the public and don’t ask for anything in return, putting their lives on the line everyday, just as their two-legged partners do. The men and women of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office salute K-9 Yanic and thank him for his commitment to this agency and to the citizen’s of St. Mary’s County.
