GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – After fearing the worst, the Green Bay Police Department is happy to report that injured K9 officer Pyro made the trip back home this past weekend.
On Monday, April 8, Green Bay Police held a press conference in which they said the future for K9 Officer Pyro following a stabbing incident was murky.
Now, the injured pup is back home after only spending a week at the Animal Referal Center.
“Well talk about a roller coaster of emotions,” says Green Bay Police Commander Kevin Warych. “Sunday night into Monday it was fifty-fifty.”
He’s referencing the original diagnosis for Pyro after he sustained substantial stab wounds in a home arrest on Sunday, April 7.
There was little hoopla surrounding Pyro’s return since he needs to be kept calm as he recuperates at home.
For those inside the department, they are trying to stay even keel, while admitting that this is another encouraging checkpoint in the recovery process.
“Everyday there has been a little bit more signs of encouragement,” says Commander Warych. “From him sitting up, to walking, to eating solid foods.”
The message throughout the process is taking it slow for Pyro’s sake, to avoid putting him in a position that he can’t physically handle.
“We don’t ever want to put Pyro in a situation where he continues to be in pain or where he reinjures himself in any way,” he says.
While this is an important step, it truly is just another step on the ladder to a full eventual recovery from the incident.
Up next is more rehabilitation work and then, hopefully, training.
“Officer Salzmann and Pyro are going to have to do some extensive training to get back into that law enforcement mode,” explains Commander Warych. “Get back into that training to make sure that Pyro is doing everything that he’s supposed to.”
For now, the department is staying away from making any predictions or guarantees, but they are able to share a hopeful goal in Pyro’s recovery.
For them, it’d be a raging success and an emotional return if Pyro was able to rejoin patrol at some point with Officer Salzmann once again as his handler.
“We want to make sure that Pyro is good to go, as well as Officer Salzmann, in him working together and going back out on the patrol someday,” says Commander Warych.
He adds that Green Bay Police continue to be overwhelmed with the number of people who have written cards, sent donations, and given treats following the devastating incident.
