FORT GIBSON, Okla. -- Tiffany Yarbrough left Fort Gibson Police in the fall with plans to own a coffee shop.
She arranged to keep her K9 Bullet as a reserve officer, managing his finances herself. In January the officer learned the K9 unit was pulled, and the city wanted to put Bullet up for a surplus.
"Whenever the K9 is no longer needed, whenever he's served his purpose with that department, first adoption always goes to the handler. That's how it's always been handled before. So my issue is, why is it different now? Why is it different with my dog?" Yarbrough said.
Yarbrough said she doesn't want to think about a future without Bullet, because she sees him as more than just a K9.
"It would be hard. I don't even want to think about that because it is emotional for me to think about... it wouldn't be good," Yarbrough said.
She said the city attorney told her an ordinance showed the K9 belonged to the city. Yarbrough tells us she never saw documentation. 2 Works for You was unable to speak with the attorney after reaching out over the last few weeks.
A petition started last month. Since then, Yarbrough witnessed an international response.
"It blew up. At the end there was 468 thousand-something signatures. It went as far as Australia...Germany... it went everywhere," she said.
Monday night the council voted unanimously for bullet to stay with his handler. Yarbrough hopes Bullet can help the city as a search and rescue K9 moving forward.
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