GREENE CO. & WILMINGTON-- It's been three weeks since a K9 from the Wilmington Police Dept. got out from a kennel. Now the community is showing its support through the dog’s favorite play toy.
We went out to southern Greene Co. off U.S. 42 to see what type of conditions search crews have been dealing with as they try to find Karson, the K9 officer for Wilmington. Crews are searching wooded areas and farm land. The more this snow melts in the area the tougher it is to find a brown dog in a brown field.
"Karson is not just a dog, he is a police officer and everyone needs him home and wants him home," said Teresa Bowman.
Bowman says she knew she needed to help as soon as she found out Karson had gotten away from the kennel where he was being held.
"When Karson went missing I'm telling you what, I've seen more love in this town than any town I've ever been in," said Bowman.
Bowman has been handing out flyers and is also trying to get people to put tennis balls in the front of their cars as a show of support.
"Karson loves tennis balls, he doesn't care about the squeaky toys he loves tennis balls so everybody has tennis balls with them when they're out there searching for him," said Bowman.
Wilmington Police Officer Jerry Popp has been partners with Karson for the past 15 months.
"It's been three weeks and I still can't put into words the amount of gratitude and how grateful I am to get all this support," said Officer Popp.
Officer Popp says Karson means much more to him than a normal pet.
"He gets up in the morning with me, he gets in the back of my car, we drive to work and we work all day and we come back home and he literally never leaves my side 24 hours a day," said Officer Popp.
There is a professional search team helping to find Karson.
Officer Popp wants you to know he reads every message sent to the K9 Karson Facebook page and they consider every tip you all have given about how to find the dog.
If you think you see Karson, Officer Popp is asking you to call 911 so the location can be shared as quickly as possible.
