MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – Mendocino County Sheriff’s officials said this week that an agency K9 died while in training.

The Tuesday report from Liz Evangelatos of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said sheriff’s K9 “Morgan” died during training on Aug. 20.

Evangelatos said Morgan died at a facility operated by the department's contract K-9 trainer.  

Morgan was engaged in narcotics detection training with his handler at the time he began to show signs of distress, she said. In the time it took for his handler to describe the animal's symptoms to a veterinarian, Morgan had died.

Officials suspect that Morgan died from an accidental ingestion of methamphetamine, Evangelatos said.

Morgan, a 15-month-old German Shepherd that had been imported from the Czech Republic, went into service with the department on Feb. 12 and was assigned to Deputy Sheriff Joey DeMarco, according to Evangelatos.

Evangelatos said Morgan was being trained for patrol work and detection of methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, cocaine and MDMA.

Deputy DeMarco is one of the most experienced K-9 handlers in the department and has been a leader in the MCSO K-9 Unit since its inception over 20 years ago, Evangelatos said .

Morgan was not only a part of the MCSO family, but a treasured member of the DeMarco family as well. Deputy DeMarco is coping with the loss given how fast he bonded with his K-9 partner, she said.

Morgan is the first MCSO K-9 Deputy to die in either a training accident or field deployment since the origination of the Mendocino MCSO K-9 Program in the 1980s, according to Evangelatos. The training methods used had been in place for more than 25 years without incident.  

Sheriff Allman has ordered a review of MCSO K-9 training protocols and is committed to ensuring the safety of the agency’s service dogs, she said.

Evangelatos said Morgan will be remembered as courageous, loving and loyal.