On Monday the 11th of January, 2016 the police department in Virginia lost one of the bravest members they’d ever had the privilege of working with. The four year old pup was named Krijger and he was a Belgian Malinois. He sadly died during a shootout as officers responded to a call regarding a domestic violence incident.
According to reports, the pup would have survived if he had been wearing a vest.
The vests however, are incredibly expensive and every one of them costs $2,000 in total. A lot of police departments can’t afford them, but one kind Samaritan has made a donation and now every single dog in Norfolk PD has one.
Who is this good Samaritan in question? None other than Anderson Cooper.
The news anchor from CNN has donated the funds required through the Spike’s K9 Fund and he had previously done an interview with retried SEAL Jimmy Hatch. He is the founder of the charity and ever since, the two have been in very close contact.
Hatch was proud to announce the kind act on his social media page:
We are humbled to announce that Anderson Cooper has donated his speaking fee for his upcoming “Norfolk Forum” speech (26 January) to Spike’s K9 Fund for the K9 Krijger Ballistic Vest Campaign. His donation was quite generous. All of the Norfolk K9’s will be outfitted and we will start outfitting K9’s from other cities in Hampton Roads with the remainder.
The police department also put this on their own Facebook page:
We are at a loss for words. Following the passing of K-9 Krijger earlier this week, CNN's Anderson Cooper has donated enough money to get a vest for every K9 at the Norfolk PD. Truly amazing.
Posted by Hampton Police on Thursday, January 14, 2016
Dogs love us unconditionally and they will continue to do every single day. They risk their own lives in an attempt to protect us and Anderson Cooper has done an incredible thing for every single dog who works at the police department.
Watch the news report about the dog who sadly died earlier this week.
If you want to help other officers obtain a ballistic vest for their dog, you can donate funds via the Spike K9 Fund here.
