Maine’s top police spokeswoman promised Thursday that an investigation into the death of a chocolate-lab police pup will not be just a whitewash.
“Yes, this is a legitimate investigation,” Shannon Moss, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, told The Maine Wire in response to questions about how seriously authorities with conduct the probe.
State animal-welfare investigators will share their findings with the district attorney, Moss explained.
Baxter, the state’s official comfort dog, died last month when he was left in his handler’s car on a hot summer day.
The handler is obviously heartbroken about the dog’s death and clearly didn’t intend for Baxter to expire. But a real investigation is needed, the public insists.
Three years ago the chocolate-lab puppy went down in Maine’s canine annals as the state’s first official comfort dog to hold a news conference.
Baxter performed on cue, wowing the hard-bitten press corps.
Of course Baxter actually didn’t need a cue. He was a natural celebrity, doing what lab pups do best – wagging his tail without so much as a prompt.
Now Baxter is dead, having been overcome by heat stroke after being left in a hot police car. And it didn’t have to be this way.
The heartstring-tugging lab was Maine’s first “comfort dog,” brought on board to help cops, paramedics and firemen deal with the emotional toll of the tragedy they see daily.
Moss announced Wednesday that the state was launching an independent probe into how the best PR Puppy in police work ended up on the wrong side of the grass.
She pledged Thursday it’ll be an honest assessment of what led up to Baxter’s death.
Baxter died after he was found unresponsive in a state vehicle that had unexpectedly stopped running.
The vehicle’s air conditioning had also stopped, and the temperature outside was 83 degrees, suggesting that the temperature inside the vehicle was well over 100 degrees.
Baxter’s professional career began in September 2022, when the tail-wagging pup held a press conference to say “hey, I work for peanuts, uh, treats.”
“Sitting” before a bank of TV microphones, Baxter explained that his “mission” would be to provide “mood-boosting benefits” to first-line responders, who have to remain calm and quick while handling stress and trauma every single day, day in, day out.
Bless every one of them.
The pup was drafted by Maine Bureau of Emergency Communications to begin his thankless work.
All he ever asked for was an occasional treat.
Baxter of course took his job seriously, having undergone professional training at Hero Pups, the canine version of Celebrity Apprentice.
Baxter didn’t consider it work because after all, he was a lab with those natural lab instincts – making every day better for a human just by wagging his tail.
Dog-lovers throughout the state may take heed at this unhappy news and consider extra precautions when it comes to leaving their four-legged friends in cars this season.
Give a woof, ok?
