NERO RELEASED TO HEAL
Will eventually return to Gannon home
Officers who laid slain Yarmouth police K-9 handler Sgt. Sean Gannon to rest had one last debt to take care of Wednesday before the sun set on Cape Cod: See to it his faithful partner Nero went home, too.
The lionhearted Malinois was hospitalized for nearly a week recuperating from a bullet to the face he survived when Gannon was fatally shot in the head April 12 serving a warrant in Marstons Mills.
But Nero was released Wednesday night to his former trainer, retired K-9 handler Peter McClelland, to continue his bed rest and therapy for the next few weeks.
McClelland said Nero left Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists in Buzzards Bay in the very cruiser he and Gannon patrolled the streets in during their alltoo-fleeting two-year partnership.
“He knew it was his cruiser. He started sniffing it and stuff. We had to lift him into the back because he can’t jump or run yet, but he was completely content,” said McClelland, who opted to stick by Nero’s side Wednesday so others could attend Gannon’s extraordinary funeral procession and Mass. McClelland’s family kept him posted from the services.
McClelland quipped he had offers to babysit Nero “coming out of the woodwork” so he could step away, but after seven days at the hospital assisting medical professionals with Nero’s extensive hands-on care, he knew his place was with his patient.
“I just need to get him through this and keep him alive,” he said. “The staff that took care of him was unbelievable.”
He said the hospital observed a moment of silence Tuesday for Gannon, 32. Several cruisers en route to the fallen officer’s wake pulled up outside the building and turned on their blue lights in honor of Nero.
“I just fell apart,” McClelland said of the unexpected tribute.
During a visit with Nero last weekend, McClelland said the police dog “perked up and wagged his tail” when he saw Gannon’s widow, Dara, for the first time since the tragedy. In addition to Nero, Dara Gannon is a pet parent to two black Labrador retrievers — one of them her late husband’s former narcotics dog.
McClelland said he has begun refreshing Nero on very rudimentary “workmode” commands like sitting, but for now his activity will be limited to binge-watching TV and low-stress walks on a harness. The bullet that tore through the dog’s trachea and esophagus and exited the left side of his neck remains burrowed in shoulder muscle.
“It’s not in a place where it threatens a joint or an artery or is in danger of shifting,” McClelland said of why further surgery may not be necessary.
Yarmouth police said in a Facebook post, “We thank all of the loving and devoted employees at Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists in Dennis and Bourne who helped rescue and save this innocent animal’s life — especially retired Yarmouth Police K9 Handler Peter McClelland, who entered the home after Nero was shot and has never left his side as he stayed with him in the hospital for 144 hours straight. K9 Nero will stay with Officer McClelland — who loves Nero and is a close friend of the Gannon Family — until he fully heals and then will return to the Gannon family when everyone is ready.”
Odies Place Animal Rescue in South Dartmouth, meanwhile, has started “Operation Thanks4 Nero” on Facebook, asking animal lovers to send thank-you cards to Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists staff at their clinics in Buzzards Bay and South Dennis.