KOLLAM: Rani and Reena, the two dogs with the Kollam dog squad, celebrated their birthday here on Thursday. It was the second birthday for the siblings and the celebrations were organised by the police and animal husbandry departments in Kollam. Rani and Reena of Labrador breed are the offspring of Ringler, a three-time world kennel show champion from Kayamkulam. The duo, who are members of Kollam kennel club, have received expert training from Ramavarmapuram police academy in Thrissur. Kollam Mayor Rajendrababu was the chief guest at the birthday celebrations.
The duo received him by presenting him a bouquet and saluting him. They enjoyed a piece of cake each shared by the Mayor before moving on to show some stunts. “These dogs have helped the police much since their inception into the squad over a year back. They could not celebrate their first birthday last time as they were under rigorous training,” Dr. D. Shine Kum-ar of animal husbandry department, told DC. Rani, who has been trained to be a tracker dog helping to find evidence in murder and theft cases, has made breakthroughs in many cases in Kollam, including catching the accused from his house in a murder case at Chadayamangalam.
At Kadakkal, Rani had recovered a knife used for the murder from an abandoned area. She has also helped the police to spot the culprits behind the burning of a car at Paravoor. Reena is a sniffer dog trained to detect explosives and was the star during the investigation into the Kollam court complex bomb blast. She is a permanent presence of the railway station and KSRTC bus stand sniffing for explosives. She is also into VIP duty during the visits of prominent personalities here. Apart from the duo, the Kollam dog squad has a sniffer dog – Thunder.
