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Moss Point, MS – Moss Point Police Department K9 Cora, a seven-year veteran of the force, died of natural causes on Oct. 18, according to the department.
K9 Cora, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, had aided the department in tracking, narcotics detection, officer protection, and suspect apprehension since October of 2011, the agency said in a Facebook post.
For the past four years, she lived and worked with her partner, Moss Point Police Officer Delaney Waltman.
“She is on point the whole day,” Officer Waltman told WLOX in September. “She’s ready for something to happen and she never relaxes.”
Moss Point Police Chief Brandon Ashley said the duo was “a perfect match,” WLOX reported.
She was the department’s only K9 officer.
“She’s a multi-purpose dog,” Officer Waltman told WLOX at the time. “From tracking wanted violent fugitives to drug apprehensions, to being at a daycare with children and being petted by children.”
In 2013, K9 Cora was awarded the Purple Heart after she was shot in the leg in the line of duty during a case of mistaken identity, the department’s Facebook post read.
“During the course of the search warrant, she got off her collar and bit an officer inside the house,” Officer Waltman told WLOX. “He thought it was a dog inside of the house, one of the suspect’s dogs. The officer turned around and discharged his weapon and shot her in the left hind quarter.”
Despite her injury, K9 Cora’s demeanor never changed. Once she was healed up, she got right back to work.
“Cora served the City well during her watch,” Chief Ashley said. “She was a loyal officer and a loved member of the MPPD family. She will be missed.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Moss Point Police Department and Officer Delaney Waltman in the loss of K9 Cora.