Streamwood police’s K-9 Zarak dies
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Streamwood Police Officer Alex VanDerLinden poses with Zarak, the German Shepherd K-9 officer that died early Tuesday. Zarak was the third K-9 employed by the Streamwood Police Department and the second VanDerLinden handled. Streamwood Police Department |
The Streamwood Police Department is mourning the loss of its K-9 officer, Zarak, who died unexpectedly Tuesday morning after a serious medical condition was detected only hours earlier.
“He was kind of a fixture in Streamwood,” Deputy Police Chief James Keegan said of the nearly 8-year-old Zarak, who served the department for more than six and a half years.
The purebred German Shepherd was cross-trained in a variety of skills, including building searches, missing person searches, narcotics detection and crowd control — all of which won him a second job with the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System’s Emergency Services Team.
“That’s not something NIPAS takes lightly, and neither did we,” Keegan said of Zarak’s proven skills.
Zarak was the third K-9 officer to serve the Streamwood department. He worked and lived with his handler, Officer Alex VanDerLinden. Zarak’s death is devastating to VanDerLinden’s family and children, as well as the entire department, Keegan said.
Earlier this year, Zarak had corrective surgery for a flipped stomach, a condition more common among larger dogs, Keegan said.
Though Zarak seemed to have recovered perfectly from that surgery, VanDerLinden noticed the dog was not quite himself during Monday night’s shift. Zarak’s not getting up during a traffic stop convinced him something was wrong.
VanDerLinden brought his K-9 partner to Golf Rose Animal Hospital in Schaumburg where it was discovered that Zarak’s intestines had become twisted — a condition from which there’s virtually no chance of recovery. Veterinarians euthanized Zarak early Tuesday morning.
Keegan said many in the community have seen Zarak either in action on a call or through the department’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.
The department’s first K-9 officer, Bismark, served for eight years. His successor, Nikko, never fully mastered all the skills expected of him and was replaced by the more proficient Zarak after nearly two years.
The department is planning a memorial service for Zarak and considering what to do about his replacement. In the meantime, dogs from other departments will be borrowed through a cooperative arrangement.
VanDerLinden was not available for comment Tuesday morning.
