Richland County Sheriff’s Department Mourns K-9 Tosca

the K-9 unit is mourning a recent addition to their team… Tosca had only been on the road with her handler for about a month before abruptly passing away.  

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO)– The Richland County Sheriff’s department lost a member of their team over the weekend. They are still waiting on test results to determine the official cause of death, but the Richland County Sheriff’s K-9 unit is feeling the sudden loss of their 2-year-old tracking dog, Tosca.

On Friday, Tosca’s handler Sheriff Deputy Emily Lemmond found her having what appeared to be a seizure. The next morning they had to make the tough decision to take her off the ventilator.

“She was very young and she was very talented. So, it was an even tougher loss because she was actually going to be a superstar. She was a very, very good dog,” Lt. Kevin Hoover said, who oversees the K-9 Unit. 

“You think you know what an unwell dog looks like and Tosca did not fit that bill in any way shape or form,” Sgt. Alan Cox said. Sgt. Cox is Richland County’s lead trainer and says all the dogs get tested six times, and seen by three different vets before they can join the force.

“That’s why this was such a surprise. I guess if that’s the right word to use, it was a surprise. I mean there were no outward signs that we could have identified or that we could have saw,” Cox said. 

Dr. Bill Draper said he was on vacation when he received a call about Tosca’s case and said since she was a purebred Belgian Malinois, she was at a higher risk of having epilepsy. Dr. Draper said that is something no one could have foreseen.

“Tosca was very normal, until very suddenly abnormal. Primary epileptics generally start having seizures between 1 and 5 years of age. Pure bred Malinois… and about a third of primary epileptics will have the more severe status epileptic type seizures from the beginning. So it’s fully plausible she was just an unlucky primary epileptic,” Dr. Draper said. 

The department is planning a special memorial service for the young active duty K-9.

“It’s just like a deputy passing. So we’re going to honor her just like we would any other dog or deputy passing,” Lt. Hoover said. 

The specifics on Tosca’s memorial service have not been determined. She just had her necropsy performed and they are waiting on official results. Her handler, Deputy Lemmond returns to work on Wednesday, and they say they are already looking for her new partner.