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Fitzsimmons Foundation Helps Wheeling Police Department Add to K-9 Unit

K-9 Zero will be taking the place of K-9 Bella in Wheeling Police Department’s K-9 unit following Bella’s retirement after seven years of service.

The Wheeling Police Department has welcomed K-9 Zero to its team after receiving a $13,000 donation from the Fitzsimmons Foundation.

Zero is the sixth K-9 unit dog under the ownership of the department and will be taking the place of K-9 Bella upon her retirement.

K-9 Bella has been with the department since 2011 and is expected to retire in about two years. According to Pfc. Garrett Pugh, the Fitzsimmons Foundation has paid for all of K-9 Zero’s expenses including training and initial purchase.

“When (Bella) retires I will be given the option to adopt her and 90 percent of the time a handler will adopt the dog,” said Cpl. Doug Howell.

Howell also will be leaving the K-9 unit and will be taking the rank of sergeant.

Bella’s replacement, K-9 Zero, is a Belgian Malinois who is from Zanesville and will be a narcotics patrol dog with Officer Jason Hupp, both of which will be training together for the next six weeks.

“It’s a long road ahead and we will be training for eight hours a day. We met on Monday, so we’re still bonding,” said Hupp.

Tom Burgoyne, a retired FBI agent and member of the Fitzsimmons Foundation, said the foundation hopes to assist many other departments in growing their units in effort to combat the opioid problem.

“We hope to do things like this for at least one department a year. We want to assist all departments from Wetzel to Hancock County,” said Burgoyne.

The Wheeling Police Department currently has five active duty K-9s with Zero still receiving training.

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