WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — A furry face is making his mark in Columbia.
Hank is the newest South Carolina Department of Natural Resources K9 recruit at just 8 weeks old.
The K9 unit started five years ago with five dogs. Now they have nine, with two waiting to go through training.
"Who wouldn't love to get paid to play with dogs?," Brady Branham, K9 team lieutenant said.
Hank will be getting his lay of the land with environmental and socialization training these next 10 months, then he'll go on to the big ropes, learning how to help the department track violators, detect hidden wildlife and concealed guns, recover evidence and support search and rescue operations.
"You can really save man hours by putting a dog on the ground and letting them work much quicker and with a much higher success rate than you can, three or four guys out there combing the woods looking for a single shell casing," Branham said.
He's a chocolate lab.
"We use sporting breed dogs and they all happen to be Labrador Retrievers right now and our thought process when we started the K9 program is that fits our image. Our primary responsibility is to enforce the game of fish and boating laws in South Carolina and a Labrador Retriever is iconic with outdoors," Branham said.
Keep an eye out for this one.
He has a tough job, but he's keen on giving you a friendly hello, too.
SCDNR is hosting a meet and greet for hank at the Academy Sports at Sandhills this Saturday from 1:30 until 4 p.m.