Pepper, a friendly one-and-a-half-year-old bloodhound, has no idea that she is the namesake for a community safety initiative that will help rescue missing vulnerable adults and children more quickly, according to ElderSource CEO Linda Levin. Bloodhounds are the breed best known for their exceptional scent-trailing abilities. ElderSource donated and sponsors Pepper, a specially trained scent-trailing bloodhound, as part of “The Pepper Project.”
“[Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office] already had a scent dog named Patriot,” Levin said. “Still, they needed a second scent canine and approached us with the idea of sponsoring Pepper. Part of our mission is to safeguard the vulnerable, which resulted in this partnership between ElderSource and JSO.”
Pepper was trained by Tallahassee’s Paul Coley of Scent Evidence K-9 and, this past spring, began working with JSO K9 Unit Officer Clinton Hart. Through “The Pepper Project,” Duval County caregivers and families will have individual scent preservation kits to make it easier and faster for missing vulnerable persons to be located and returned back home as quickly as possible…