KCKFD K9 Zoom awarded Honorable Mention Grant
Published on November 29, 2021
Kansas City, KS- After a tight competition over the past couple months, KCKFD K9 Zoom was awarded an honorable mention grant of $500.00. Zoom made top 15 out hundreds of dogs in the Aftermath K9 grant competition.
This amazing accomplishment will be celebrated during an award presentation for Zoom and his handler Mike Searcy on Wednesday, December 1, 2021, at 10:00am at Station 6, 9548 State Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66111.
The aftermath K9 voting competition ended on October 26, 2021 and gained an outpouring of support and donations from communities across the country. All the K9’s in the competition were from all around the country and are working dog for various police agencies or fire departments. Out of the 21 grants awarded, only two of the dogs were fire department dogs and Zoom was one of them.
About Zoom
4-year-old male yellow Labrador Retriever Zoom has been with handler Mike Searcy since December 2018. Zoom is a “live find” search K9, also referred to as a disaster dog. He is 1 of 12, type 1 live find K9s on the Kansas State Task Force (KSTF) K9 unit. Zoom has taken part in numerous searches that ended with loved ones being returned to their families. In those successful searches the ages ranged from 5 to 74 years old. Zoom has been featured in several local news stories, First Responders Live, and just finished filming 3 national commercials for his corporate sponsor Renjensa. Zoom has also participated in numerous public relation/ educational events in the Kansas City, KS community.
“I am excited about the recent attention and opportunities the Aftermath K9 Grant has brought to Zoom,” said K9 Handler Mike Searcy. A few weeks ago, Zoom completed his 38th call out, assisting in Leavenworth County.”
For more information about Zoom and his amazing partnership with handler Mike Searcy can be found online.
What’s Next for Zoom
The funds provided by the Aftermath K9 Grant will be put towards purchasing new equipment for Zoom. This includes new collars, harnesses, and a specialized tactical repelling harness. In addition to Zoom’s normal daily training regiment in Kansas City, this coming year he will be scheduled for “travel trainings” in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Tulsa Oklahoma, and possibly Northern California. As always Zoom stands ready to respond nationally in disaster response for KSTF 1 & K9 Unit, as well as aid in any metro agency in missing person searches.
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO ZOOM AND MIKE SEARCY FOR THIS AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENT.