Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office K-9 made ‘full recovery’ after fentanyl exposure on the job
The department said the quick action of K-9 care detective Sully may have saved the dog’s life. It took three doses of Narcan to revive him.
EVERETT, Wash. — A K-9 of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) is recovering from exposure to fentanyl during a drug search in Everett on Thursday.
Five-year-old K-9 Sully and his SCSO detective assisted the Skagit County Inter-Local Drug Enforcement Unit in searching an apartment in Everett.
“He was a drug hound, so he was on our anti-narcotics task force,” Courtney O’Keefe, SCSO’s Public Information Officer, said of the K-9. Sully. “So he worked with an undercover detective and he was trained in cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.”
The apartment he stayed in on Thursday was stocked with a variety of drugs including nearly 500,000 fentanyl pills and fentanyl powder.
“They were looking around for about 10 to 15 minutes,” O’Keefe said. “K-9 Sully pointed out several different areas where he smelled drugs.”
After K-9 Sully finished his work, he was placed in a crib, but about 15 minutes after his detective returned outside, K-9 Sully was unresponsive.
“He had two doses of Narcan near the door next to his crib. He grabbed them and gave them to Sully,” O’Keefe said.
But two doses didn’t work and the detective called another officer to the scene to bring in a third dose of Narcan.
“He gave Sully a third dose and Sully is still unresponsive. At that point, he grabbed Sully, jumped in the driver’s seat, and took him to the emergency vet,” O’Keefe said.
After the third dose of Narcan, K-9 Sully began to regain consciousness and was monitored at the hospital and discharged later in the day.
“You know, a new thing that we’re seeing with fentanyl that we haven’t seen in the past during this outbreak is that one dose of Narcan is not enough with fentanyl,” O’Keefe said. “We are seeing one, two, three, four doses of medicine being used to revive people, and in this case K-9 Sully.”
Detective K-9 Sully sent in videos and photos from Friday showing K-9 Sully back to normal, superhuman and running around in the fields.
“He was running around, full of energy. So it looks like he’s made a full recovery,” O’Keefe smiled.
SCSO says its drug detectives always carry a backup Narcan in case they need it for their K-9, but this is the first time it actually has to be used. This is the first time fentanyl has come into contact with one of its K-9s that it knows about.
The department said without the prompt action of K-9 care detective Sully, he might not be here today.
“It was a very scary situation, very scary for the handler,” said O’Keefe. “But fortunately, he acted very quickly and most likely saved Sully’s life.”
