The Bu­reau of In­ter­na­tion­al Nar­cotics and Law En­force­ment Af­fairs (INL), through the Unit­ed States Em­bassy in Port-of-Spain, pro­vid­ed a new po­lice ca­nine, ca­nine re­sources, and launched a ca­nine emer­gency med­ical ac­cess plan. U.S. pet sup­pli­er Chewy con­tributed 80 first aid kits to sup­port this ef­fort.

Dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ny at the TT Cus­toms and Ex­cise Di­vi­sion (TTCED) ken­nel fa­cil­i­ty in In­vaders Bay, Port of Spain, U.S. Am­bas­sador Can­dace Bond pre­sent­ed Dea, a two-year-old Ger­man Shep­herd-Bel­gian Ma­li­nois Mix, to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Transna­tion­al Or­ga­nized Crime Unit of the TT Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS). Dea joins Thi­js, a ca­nine do­nat­ed ear­li­er this year by the U.S. gov­ern­ment, to strength­en the fight against il­lic­it traf­fick­ing.

Am­bas­sador Bond al­so an­nounced the launch of a ca­nine emer­gency med­ical ac­cess plan un­der the Caribbean Basin Se­cu­ri­ty Ini­tia­tive, in part­ner­ship with the Wish­ing for Wings Foun­da­tion led by Ms. Deb­bie Ja­cob. The plan will pro­vide 24/7 vet­eri­nary care for work­ing dogs, in­clud­ing field in­juries, non-rou­tine med­ical care, and pre­ven­ta­tive care. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, Am­bas­sador Bond hand­ed over 80 first aid kits to ca­nine han­dler teams from the TTCED, TTPS, and TT Pris­ons Ser­vice.

Fur­ther con­tri­bu­tions from INL in­clude train­ing ma­te­ri­als, groom­ing kits, and op­er­a­tional gear to en­hance the ca­pa­bil­i­ties of these agen­cies. INL al­so sup­port­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go Cus­toms in ac­quir­ing six dogs and up­grad­ing their fa­cil­i­ty to U.S. stan­dards. Plans are un­der­way to re­fur­bish the TT Pris­ons Ser­vice ken­nels through a co­op­er­a­tive cost-shar­ing pro­gram.

Am­bas­sador Bond said, “Our dogs are much more than work­ing an­i­mals. They are es­sen­tial part­ners in law en­force­ment, aid­ing in de­tect­ing nar­cotics, firearms, and am­mu­ni­tion, guid­ing search and res­cue mis­sions, and pro­vid­ing se­cu­ri­ty pa­trols. At the heart of the U.S. gov­ern­ment's work­ing dog pol­i­cy is a com­mit­ment to en­sur­ing an­i­mal safe­ty and wel­fare.”

She added, “All these ef­forts weave to­geth­er to show­case our un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to the well-be­ing of our ca­nine part­ners, as well as our ded­i­ca­tion to in­ter­na­tion­al co­op­er­a­tion and com­pas­sion­ate care. Let us up­hold the same ded­i­ca­tion and re­spect for our ca­nine team mem­bers that they show us dai­ly. Their well-be­ing and ef­fec­tive­ness re­flect our core val­ues and our com­mit­ment to ex­cel­lence in all our en­deav­ours.”