A Glassboro, N.J. police dog was pronounced dead over the weekend after it went missing.
K-9 Anka had broken out of her secured kennel and wasn't inside when her handler, Officer Charles Williams, returned home around 9 p.m. on July 5, according to a department news release.
Glassboro police officers and neighboring agencies immediately began canvassing the area. An off-duty Glassboro K-9 officer located Anka approximately 1 mile away at the intersection of Cross-Keys Road and Flanagan Ave in Monroe Township.
The dog had been lying in the roadway, severely injured, after apparently being struck by a vehicle. Anka was rushed to a nearby veterinary hospital and succumbed to her injuries while en route.
Officials suspect that the K-9 was stressed due to private July 4th weekend fireworks displays that reported in the area, causing her to pull away the fencing from her kennel.
Williams and Anka graduated Patrol K-9 school from the Philadelphia Police Canine Academy in 2011 and were involved in numerous assignments during their time together.
Anka, a 6-year-old German Shepherd was donated to the Glassboro Police Department by the Bright Star German Shepherd Rescue in Rochester, N.Y. Anka was the first female police K-9 in the department’s long K9 history, which began in 1958.
The Glassboro Police K9 Unit plans to honor Anka in a memorial service in the near future.
