MA State Police K9 helps rescue elderly man

RUSSELL, Mass. (WLNE) – A Massachusetts State Police K9 is credited with helping rescue an elderly man last Wednesday.

K9 Orry assisted police in the search for an 87-year-old man with dementia who went missing on Feb. 21 in Russell, Mass.

Officials said State Police K9 teams searching near Blandford Road observed footprints in the snow down a steep embankment into the woods.

K9 Unit Trooper Ken Hanchett deployed his partner, Orry, who quickly acquired a scent and began to pull down the hill.

Police said Trooper Hanchett and Orry then tracked across a flooded and frozen stretch of ground into a clearing.

Orry showed a proximity alert and pulled across another overgrown and frozen area to a large tree, where the elderly man was found, per authorities.

Officials said the man was found around 8 p.m. on a very cold day, nearly eight hours after he was last seen.

Troopers carried him to a waiting ambulance, which took him to a nearby hospital for treatment of cold exposure injuries.