Ziva and her handler BSO Deputy Tony Sun. {BSO}
Meet Tamarac’s newest, cutest law enforcement canine: Ziva, the eight-month-old bloodhound.
The beautiful brown dog was introduced to residents at Wednesday’s city commission meeting in Tamarac, where members of the Broward Sheriff’s Office bloodhound unit – K-9s and human deputies alike – posed for photographs and got to know community leaders.
Members of the bloodhound unit said they begin training the unit’s puppies when they are three to four months old, starting with simple tasks like walking from the middle of a room to its door.
“Then we just keep building from there and adding and adding and adding,” said BSO bloodhound unit member Deputy Kelli Covet. “They have no idea how important their job is, other than they get a treat or their favorite food at the end of the trail when they find their person.”
The bloodhound unit searches for missing and endangered people, including children and those with special needs or mental illness.
Tracking is just a small part of BSO bloodhounds’ mission; they are also certified therapy dogs and help the agency work with community members and establish relationships, Covet said.
Ziva is a great-grandniece of Macie, a bloodhound retired from BSO’s K-9 unit.
Ziva’s handler is BSO Deputy Tony Sun, who along with his unit brethren mourned the loss of BSO Deputy Bluey, a four-year-old bloodhound K-9 who served BSO in Tamarac from 2020 until her death form bone cancer earlier this year.
Deputy Bluey and BSO’s new bloodhound, Ziva.
Bluey helped BSO track down numerous people during investigations in her time on the force and participated in over 120 events and therapy visits, city officials said.
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Author Profile
- Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.
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