This is one of the Internet’s most touching photos of a K9 and his handler, and the photo becomes even more powerful, once you read the events that led to it being taken.
A Swedish police reporter named Patrick Sjöö captured the beautiful image below of a police dog named Hanto and his handler, Anders Norrén sharing a very special moment together.
Photo credit: Patrick Sjöö
Patrick wrote, “One of my worst jobs ended in one of the best pictures I have taken. It was four years ago that I, as a police reporter, went with a K-9 unit after police received an alert about an elderly couple that disappeared in Berg Municipality. It is assumed the couple had gone out to buy fish but went missing. Police found the couple’s car on a deserted road and I was guided to the site by a police officer via the phone.”
“The elderly couple probably got lost and ended up in a small forest where they got stuck. They tried to put pine branches under the tires to get some traction, but it was to no avail. It was 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside and it was many miles to the nearest house. They had started walking away from their car to get help, but gave up after a mile.
“While searching, a police dog named Hanto and his handler Anders Norén found the couple. Unfortunately, it was too late. They were found close to each other. Snow had fallen on them and they had frozen to death under a spruce tree.
“When Hanto and Noren came back to the car, they gave each other a hug and I managed to get a picture. That picture never got into the newspaper, but I put it on my blog. Since then I have received several calls about the picture and it got good reviews.”
Here is another photo of Hanto and Anders together on that sad day.
Photo credit: Patrick Sjöö
Note: the tragic incident occurred in November of 2009 in Börtnan, Jämtland, Sweden and the details of this story were roughly translated from Swedish.
H/T: DogHeirs
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