Dax, a 5-year-old German shepherd, was found dead at the base May 6 by his handler, MCLB spokesperson Art Powell said.
“Dax was a very valuable member of the Marine Corps, and we are mourning the loss of our faithful friend,” Powell said.
An investigation into the dog’s death has been launched, and the dog’s body has been taken to Fort Benning for a necropsy, but authorities declined to release further details about the case citing the ongoing and sensitive nature of the investigation.
The Marine Corps, along with the rest of the United States’ military, uses the dogs for a variety of security purposes, including explosives and ammunition detection and narcotics interdiction.
Dax had been with the base for nearly three years and was trained to sniff out explosive ordinance. The dog was serving the Marine Corps in the ongoing global war on terrorism, Powell said.
Another K-9 assigned to MCLB-Albany was recently the focus of national media attention after the family of his handler successfully adopted him, the first such adoption approved by the military.
Cpl. Dustin Lee, who was attached to the Albany base, was killed in a mortar attack in Iraq. His dog Lex was wounded in the attack but recovered and was eventually honorably discharged from the Corps and allowed to be adopted by Lee’s parents in Mississippi.
Dogs like Lex and Dax are very valuable to the military both in terms of the cost associated with training the animals and for their role in military operations, Powell said.
For that reason, they are treated and classified as Marines.