DAVIS — Late May and early June means warmer weather and graduation season for both humans and canines alike. Butte and Glenn County K-9 Officer Rage, with her partner in crime Mike Beals, celebrated their graduation from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Law Enforcement Division Friday afternoon at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area Headquarters in Davis.

Game Warden Beals and K-9 Rage are now Butte and Glenn County’s most dynamic and versatile crime fighting duo. Rage is a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois.

The graduation culminated more than eight weeks of intensive training to bring the dogs’ behavior and field responses up to the standards required by CDFW, and their California peace officers’ standards training. All K-9 officers are trained to detect illegally taken wildlife, invasive species, hidden firearms, expended casings and other evidence or articles.

According to CDFW spokeswoman Kirsten Macintyre, about half of CDFW’s K-9 officers are dual purpose, meaning they engage in detection work while also protecting their handlers, other law enforcement officers and the public, and aid in the apprehension of suspects.

“Our Warden K-9 teams have dramatically increased the officer safety of some very dangerous missions in the back country,” said program coordinator Lt. Bob Pera in a press release sent out earlier in the week.

“These K-9s have helped us track down and arrest hundreds of felony suspects,” Pera said in the release. “Then the next day, they may put on a demonstration at a public event or school function where they inevitably garner the attention of all present and help gain support for CDFW law enforcement programs.”

Although Rage declined to comment, her handler and partner in crime, Warden Beals, said her name is a far description from her personality.

“Rage is actually an absolute sweetheart, and we’re so proud of her,” Beals said Friday after the ceremony.

“Our main focus is enforcement of fish and wildlife crimes in regards to the protection of resources in Glenn and Butte County. We look for hunting violations and we also do public safety enforcement with our partners, the Chico police department, Butte County and Glenn County Sheriff’s.”

Rage is highly trained in the detection of multiple things from firearms and different controlled substances, including cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, according to Beals.

Rage is also specially trained to locate illegally shot animals in collaboration with poaching investigations. Within Glenn and Butte counties, Beals and Rage will be focusing on all spectrums of crime, including a focus on the unlawful destruction of protected land for marijuana cultivation.

“Rage and I will mostly do street work and help locate illegal firearms when investigating poaching and illegal hunting activities,” Beals said.

Beals and Rage will be available as a resource for all Butte and Glenn County law enforcement.

Other canines in Rage’s class (total of six) will be sent to different parts of California, each specifically chosen to a county that needs their selective services. One example is Scout, a 2-year-old English Springer Spaniel assigned to Orange County to sniff out abalones and other illegally caught shellfish on lucrative fishing yachts.

Other parts of California need detection of wildlife for deer, bear and the prevention of invasive species like quagga mussels. They will also find items out in the brush to help with investigations like shotgun shells from illegal poaching expeditions.

This K-9 program is funded predominantly by private donations through the California Wildlife Officers Foundation, and CDFW thanks them for their continued support. The teams formally certified for law enforcement worked on May 22. They have some additional training for helicopter use this weekend.