Trakr

He was a German shepherd from Czechoslovakia, working with Constable James Symington of the Halifax Regional Police in Nova Scotia, and in six years of service he was credited with finding several million dollars in stolen goods and contraband, and with recovering a missing two-year-old. He had been retired for a year when the towers came down. Symington drove fifteen hours through the night from Halifax and reached lower Manhattan in the early hours of 12 September, one of the first search teams on the pile. They worked through the morning. Trakr alerted at a void in the rubble, and beneath it, in a pocket under the debris of the North Tower, was Genelle Guzman-McMillan — the last survivor recovered from the World Trade Center, twenty-seven hours after the collapse. He worked until he collapsed with smoke inhalation, burns and chemical exposure, and was treated on the scene. He developed a degenerative neurological condition years later and died in April 2009, at about fifteen. Two months earlier a biotechnology company had judged him the world's most clone-worthy dog out of thousands of entries, and five puppies were cloned from his DNA.

Loved by · James Symington

Honours

• 2001Credited with finding the last survivor recovered from the World Trade Center, 12 September
• 2001Worked the pile until he collapsed from smoke, burns and chemical exposure
• 2009Chosen from thousands of entries as the world's most clone-worthy dog

Their kind

Standardised in 1899 from German herding stock for a working temperament rather than a look, and adopted by police and armies within a decade.

A life in seasons