Memorial held for K-9 officer Horus in Savannah

By Ashley Luthans

On Saturday Sept. 7, a memorial service was held to honor the passing of K-9 officer Horus in Savannah.

Savannah residents came to mourn the fallen K-9 officer who passed on June 20 after being left in a car following an overnight shift.

Resident Jamie Marcum has been very involved in making sure that Horus had a proper memorial. Marcum expressed her frustration with how long the whole process has taken.

“It took 70 plus days to get an obituary and a funeral service,” Marcum said. “It took less than 12 hours to bury him after he was found, so he was not able to be buried with full police honors. So, we fought for some kind of service and that is what we had today.”

The service was led by Chaplain Tyrese Barnett with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Barnett explained what it takes to be a police dog, sharing that Horus was a good officer.

Barnett went on to share details about Horus’ character, like how he loved to dress up for Halloween.

Horus was given full police honors at the memorial and received his End of Watch Call.

Horus’ handler, officer Daniel Zeigler with the Savannah Police Department, was charged with misdemeanor animal abuse on Friday. Marcum said that she did not believe a misdemeanor was enough for Zeigler.

“At the end of the investigation, it showed that the system that would have saved the K-9 had to have been manually disarmed,” Marcum said. “Which means it was more than neglect in my opinion. (Zeigler) knew that the system was not on and still chose to leave K-9 Horus behind, which resulted in his death…And I do not feel a Class A misdemeanor is enough.”

Horus’ memorial site is located near South Third and West Benton Streets in Savannah.