DAISY: 2000-2008
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The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office sends condolences to Canine Search Specialist Pamela Zachritz, who led workshops on K9 disaster search and rescue at Northwest SARCon '08. Her 8-year-old German Shepherd, Daisy, passed away due to complications from a heart tumor on Oct. 6, 2008, just after returning home from the conference.
"She was my first SAR dog, and taught me everything I know," Pamela told us. "Words are so inadequate to express my profound sorrow."
Daisy and Pamela first teamed up to join the search-and-rescue community in the aftermath of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. They started in wilderness trailing and cadaver searches, before progressing to air scenting for urban disaster deployments.
The duo later became active FEMA search team on Tennessee Task Force One. Daisy and Pam were recently deployed to three different locations in Tennessee in the aftermath of several tornadoes to hit that region. One of the missions was searching for live victims in the dormitories at Union University in Jackson, TN.
In 2005, as part of a paramedic group, Daisy and Pam were deployed to Grenada after Hurricane Ivan.
Daisy is a Chicago native, and used to be part of the Illinois Task Force. Her high drive and toy obsession served as a behavior model for aspiring canine teams, and illustrated what it took to be a top-notch disaster search dog. During that time, Daisy participated in the Homeland Security “TOPOFF 2” Exercise, held in Chicago. Her exemplary performance earned her a starring role in a local television reporter’s “Terrorism Drill” news feature.
Daisy certified four times in her lifetime -- the most recent being at the CE (Type I - Advanced) level in Columbia, MO in October 2007.
Daisy has trained with numerous K9 teams at their training facilities across the country -- including Texas, Tennessee, Wisconisn, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, New Jersey and West Virginia. She has participated in K9 demos for the Civil Air Patrol, Naval Sea Cadets, Camp Atterbury, Purdue University, and most recently, Northwest SARCON in Oregon.
Daisy will be sorely missed by her family, friends and the search and rescue community, and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office grieves her loss. It was a privilege to meet this amazing animal.
