Police searching for burglar who poisoned retired K-9

REDDING, California -- A community has come together to raise funds to offer a reward to find the burglar who poisoned a retired K-9.

Fortunately, Tarro survived the poisoning because he was taken to the vet quickly, "Time was of the essence...if it were a couple hours later we don't know what would've happened," said Dr. Larry Correia.

Tarro was one of the first K-9's that was brought on when Lieutenant Brian Barner took over supervising the Redding police department K-9 unit almost 10 years ago.

But while retired now, and waiting for his partner to come home from work, Tarro was poisoned by a suspected burglar.

Lt. Barner said, "That was his partner for 6 years so he's very attached to that dog. He had a lot of emotions, not only for the incident that happened at his house and the burglary but on top of that, someone deliberating tried to poison his dog, his police dog."

The award has reached 20-thousand dollars, thanks to an help from the community who was shocked that someone would do such a thing to such a well-known hero.

He's survived many life-threatening moments over his ten years, and now this one.