In April 2024, Colorado’s 2024-25 Long Appropriations Bill opened the door for a new Colorado Parks and Wildlife statewide K-9 program. The new statewide K-9 program will have a lead K-9 Supervisor and five K-9 handlers assigned to the new statewide unit. This comes on the heels of the success of CPW's previous pilot program in which CPW utilized three dogs.

K-9 officers aid CPW wildlife managers in detecting the presence of wildlife, whether that’s checking hunters or even identifying endangered species in the field. Along with assisting in wildlife law enforcement cases, dogs can also be used in black bear management.

CPW recently promoted former District Wildlife Manager Ian Petkash, who handles K-9 Samson, to the K-9 Unit Supervisor position. Petkash joins the podcast to let us know plans for expanding the K-9 program and provide a better understanding of how CPW’s wildlife officers utilize dogs in the field and what it takes to build the program.