Students and faculty from the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Huntsville, Alabama in the Veterinary Assistant program recently welcomed Senior Federal Wildlife K9 Officer, Darrin Speegle and fellow K9 officer Gino. However, the Veterinary Assistant class didn’t keep their visitors to themselves; they also welcomed the entire Ross Huntsville campus to come and enjoy the presentation.
The Veterinary Assistant students were thrilled for the opportunity to become more educated on work the K9 unit can do. After hearing about their objectives, the students came to appreciate the K9 officer to a greater degree. “There are four K9 wildlife units in our area, like Officer Speegle and Gino, with a total of only seven units in the nation,” said Elizabeth Bowden, Campus Director in Huntsville. The campus learned that Officer Speegle has been a Federal Wildlife Officer for over 20 years. He acquired Gino from Poland, and the subsequent training of Gino occurred in multiple languages.
Through the presentation, the students and staff at the Huntsville campus learned the importance of having a K9 officer in their area. They discovered ways that all students could apply the information that they learned to their respective fields. Gino is trained in all aspects of law enforcement which affect the medical health industry. He has also helped identify drug offenders in a crowd, locate narcotics, find lost loved ones, track criminals, protect his human officer, and at the end of the day he get to go home with Officer Speegle. Of all information conveyed, students were most impressed by the fact that Gino is capable of dragging a 200 pound man. They also learned that when searching a building he will retract his nails to maintain silence. The Veterinary Assistant students enjoyed learning more about some of the incredible animals that they will be responsible of caring for.