Former Mason police officer to be reunited with his K-9 partner after dispute

MASON — After doubting he would ever be reunited with his K-9 partner Tamarack, a former Mason police officer is now expected to adopt the dog.

Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter Director Holly Guild said the shelter was not aware until Tuesday of a controversy between city officials and former officer Hayden Wildfong over the dog, a rare shelter animal that became a K-9.

The Mason Police Department discontinued its police dog program after the January departure of Wildfong, a Mason officer since 2019. He resigned after an investigation began after he left his gun in the Mason High School weight room on Jan. 9. He resigned after the investigation began, he told city council members during the Monday meeting.

According to city officials, he violated policies by being in the school while on duty. Wildfong said he had approval from police command staff to work out at the school and he admitted to making a mistake with his gun belt.

The city had planned to place Tamarack with another police agency but since she came from a shelter, Tamarack contractually had to go back to the shelter once the city abandoned its police dog program.

Wildfong filled out the adoption papers and, once Tamarack is transferred to the shelter and goes through a medical and behavioral exam, the two can be reunited, Guild said.

"It makes no sense to find a new family when we have a family ready to go," she said.

Monday's city council meeting was contentious, as council members and City Manager Deborah Stuart agreed they would continue trying to find a police home for Tamarack instead of giving Wildfong first dibs.

But that changed abruptly Tuesday, after Heidi Williams, a former director of the Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter, said in a Facebook post that the city should have turned the dog back to the shelter in accordance with the adoption contract from 2020.

The shelter made a claim for the dog, and the city soon put up its own Facebook post, saying officials would be turning Tamarack and the adoption process over to the shelter.

"The city signed an adoption contract in 2020 and did not recall the provision in the contract that required her to be returned to the Ingham County Animal Control until today," the Mason Facebook post says.

Stuart said the current shelter director confirmed the contract and the city will return the dog to the shelter.

Tamarack is a German shepherd believed to be about 6 or 7 years old.

Wildfong has not responded to requests for comment from the State Journal, but he asked council members Monday to let him have the dog.

"He's not just a used tool that can be given to someone else," Wildfong told council members. "He belongs at home."

Wildfong told council members he was not there to contest his resignation but only to get his dog back.

Wildfong said he had hoped his resignation would have allowed him to buy back his dog and he was willing to pay into the thousands of dollars, well beyond what he said is the traditional $1 that cities typically request from handlers.

Two council members, Jerry Schaffer and Rita Vogel, voted Monday to allow Wildfong to buy the dog. The other five members voted against.

The dispute over the dog may have played a role in the departure of the city's police chief.

Kelly Wrigglesworth, the wife of former Mason Police Chief Mark Wriggelsworth, who resigned last week, told council members Monday during the meeting that the dispute over the police dog "was the last straw that broke the camel's back" and hastened her husband's departure.

Tamarack was the start and end of the city's police dog program which launched in 2021. The city announced the end of its police dog program in a press release Monday.

She was rescued from a hoarding situation in 2020 by the Ingham County Animal Control and Shelter and Wildfong said at the council meeting there was an intense bonding between the two because of the dog's past.

In 2020, Williams said Tamarack was noticed among the dozens of hoarded animals because she either had prior law enforcement training or was a natural at it.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Former Mason police officer to be reunited with his K-9 partner after dispute