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Wednesday, February 13, 2002
King & Queen of
Mardi Paws (Pictures of Mardi Paws,
Part II)
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"The great thing about this year's canine Carnival parade is that
the king and queen are bona fide working dogs rather than the slackers
who've reigned in previous years."
Sheila
Stroup
The Times-Picayune
NEW ORLEANS, LA
(USA) — The identities
of year's krewe royalty (or "Royal Hairs") had been cloaked in
secrecy, as the tradition goes. The announcement only came last
month at the bal masque and certainly thrilled all the revelers; the
celebrity King and Queen were to be two heroic dogs:
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King Cody Bear and Paul Morgan arrived
in a luxurious limo generously donated by the dog-loving folks at Vintage
Limousine Service (vintagelimousine.org). "You'd think we were the President
of the United States," said Paul. Cody agreed emphatically by
licking the note pad right out of my hands. (Read more about Cody here.)
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"King" Cody
Bear of the World Trade Center search-and-rescue operations and "Queen"
Emma
of the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office, Arson
Investigation.
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Not
just another pretty face!
This year's Queen of Mardi Paws, "Emma",
is an ex-shelter dog from
Florida who—when she's not
parading around in feathers and a pastel tiara—investigates
arsons with the Louisiana Fire Marshall's Office. She's a pro at
navigating burned-out buildings and she moves "like a
locomotive", says handler Richard Jones. But today the sleek,
65lb. Lab mix was the picture of grace. (Read more about Emma from The
Times-Picayune.)
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| Long-time Scoopers may remember when
"King" Cody Bear and Paul Morgan (author of K-9
Soldiers: Vietnam and After and The
Parrot's Beak) first graced our website with a gripping,
first-hand account of the World Trade Center
aftermath. Today they received just a taste of the
appreciation that they (and all those who worked at
"the pile") deserve. To learn more about
what really happened at the World Trade Center, read "Letter
from a World Trade Center Rescuer and his Dog"
(September 24, 2001).
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Crowds cheer and TV cameras whir
as Major Paul Morgan (ret.) and
King Cody
Bear march by. (Photo by Deputy Scoop Photographer Janet) |
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The royal entourage also included a
special group of dogs and their handlers from Louisiana Search and Rescue
(LaSAR). Five minutes before the parade began, Staff Sgt. Lisa
Higgins gave Scoop reporters an impromptu demonstration of the
amazing intelligence of "Molli", one of the stars of the LaSAR
team. In addition to having eight murder arrests to her credit,
Molli was able to bark out the answers to "What is 2 x 2?" and
"What is the square root of 100?" (And she didn't even use a
calculator.)
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| Beauty & brains:
In addition to their regular duties, Lisa and Molli (far right) also tutor
children in mathematics. To meet all of the LaSAR dogs and read about
their special talents, click
here. |
Final
Chapter: Dog Soldiers of the
Future 
Pictures
of Mardi Paws
[Part I]
[Part
II]
[Part III]
§§§
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