Southern New England may soon have a working dog used to detect hazardous chemicals found in weapons of mass destruction.
New Bedford Firefighter Travis Rebello, who's also a Hazardous Materials Technician for the State of Massachusetts, heard about a K-9 program in California, which got the wheels in his head spinning.
"About 8 months of research before we decided to try it," said Rebello. "That's the only other dog I know about right now for L.A. County Sheriff. This is nothing on the East Coast, it's the first time." For the last five weeks, Kona, an 8-month-old black Labrador, has been living with Rebello and training alongside him to become a certified working K-9.
"She's training to become a chemical and biological detection dog," said Rebello. "Better known as weapons of mass destruction."