North Channel Animal Doctor Frank Martin receives award
By Allan Jamail
Jacinto City, TX. — Thursday, January 28, 2021, at the Jacinto City council meeting, Police Chief Joe Ayala presented an Outstanding Service Award to Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) Veterinarian Francis “Frank” Martin for his services, because for the past 11 years he has donated the treatment and facility when needed to care for the department’s K9 officer Kyra.
Chief Ayala said, “I’m thankful to DVM Martin and his staff for they took excellent care day and night of K9 Kyra when it had some serious health issues before its passing away.”
“Police Corporal A. J. Seydler was K9’s Kyra’a handler. We now have ‘Fly,’ a new K9 to assist us with narcotic investigations,” Ayala said.
K-9 Kyra remembered
Jacinto City Police Department K9 Officer Kyra passed away on January 1, 2020, due to ongoing medical complications. Officer Kyra served Jacinto City from January 2009 – October 2020.
During her service she has contributed to countless arrests and played a significant role in keeping our community a safe place to live and work in her duties as a canine officer.
Cpl. Albert Seydler. her canine officer, says, “You don’t think about how attached you get to your dog and how a part of the family they become.”
He agreed to take Kyra on in July of 2014. He described her as hyper and was shocked how quickly she bonded with him.
Kyra was certified with the National Narcotics Detectors Dogs Association. Both her and Seydler also did school events where he explained she was always gentle with children. He elaborated on what the training process was like.
“We did four weeks with the Harris County Sheriffs office’s canine department, alternating between night and day at least ten hours each day. We did hides all throughout the city of Houston, and she was certified with the NNDDA at Greenspoint Mall.”
Kyra, who struggled with multiple health conditions, retired around October of 2020. Explaining that most dogs get depressed after retirement, Kyra enjoyed her time off, according to Seydler. Chief Ayala and Sydler could not express how thankful they were to Dr. Frank Martin and the entire staff at Northshore Animal Hospital for their unwavering commitment to providing the best care for Kyra.