K9 Training Facility

The California Wildlife Officers Foundation (CalWOF) is in its 15th year. With your help, we have continued our mission to support wildlife officers and their families. We are proud of our impact on the women, men, and families who protect the thin green line.  One area that we are particularly proud of is our ability to support the K9 program. The K9s who assist the California Wildlife Officers are invaluable assets in protecting our natural resources. From detecting invasive species, finding spent firearm casings, and apprehending suspects to providing life-saving protection for our wardens, these K9s are a massive force multiplier for the department and an always-trusted companion. Since its inception, CalWOF has donated more than $150,000 to purchase new dogs and related equipment and address the veterinarian needs of active-duty and retired K9s.
To date, we have donated more than $1.3 million, including more than $630,000 for university scholarships. CalWOF recently updated our website (www.calwof.org) and social media presence to help people truly understand what we do and, more importantly, to help the general public understand what the California Wildlife Officers do on a daily basis. 
Protecting our natural resources is just one aspect of the K9’s ever-growing mission, and illegal wildlife trafficking is another large and, sadly, ever-expanding area of responsibility for our K9s. To ensure that California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife K9s are leading the charge in combating illicit activities, proper training must remain a cornerstone for California’s wildlife officers and their K9s. Therefore, there is a major effort underway to create a training facility that is centrally located to allow easy access for all the K9 teams across the state.

Details of the new Facility

The state has contributed land for the new facility in Fresno and we have already built fencing around the site. The K9 training center is expected to be completed by April 2024 at an estimated cost of $125,000. This centrally located modern training center will accelerate the expansion of the department’s K9 teams and the need for cutting-edge training. An anonymous donor has provided a matching grant of $50,000 to help us kickstart the campaign to raise an additional $75,000.
We are reaching out to those who love California’s natural resources and those who protect them to help fund this critical project. A donation of stock or cash will help us meet the growing needs of our Wardens and their K9 partners. We are grateful for your continued support of the Foundation’s mission.  There are different donation opportunities including but not limited to straight donations of funds to sponsoring an obstacle used in training that can have your name on it so please reach out with questions and to learn more. 

As a partner in everyday patrol duties, the K9s serve in the following ways

• Protect their handler, other law enforcement officers, and the public.
• Track suspects and missing persons, and perform area and building searches to locate suspects.
• Detect illegally taken wildlife, invasive species, hidden firearms, expended casings, and other evidence or articles.
• Assist in the arrest of suspects.
• Assist in locating lost or missing persons/officers.
• Perform valuable educational demonstrations and programs

CalWOF has provided support in the form of payment of medical bills, purchasing equipment for both “in the field” and training. With your support, we can make this goal a reality and equip our Wildlife Officers with a new “partner” in protecting our resources.

Your tax free donation can go directly to our K-9 Program. Simply follow the link below and contribute. Make your intentions known during the donation process and rest assured your funds will go directly to impact the educational future of California’s Wildlife Officers and their families.