Reassigned K9 officer fights to keep beloved family dog

A heartbroken police officer and his family are fighting to keep their family pet — a police dog who has helped the family heal through the unexpected loss of their 14-year-old son.

Officer Richard Galanti and his partner, a 7-year-old shepherd named Abal, worked together at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's police department, according to a report from nj.com.

Abal had been with the family nearly five years. On Tuesday, he was returned the department.

In March, Galanti received a memo that he would be transferred from his K9 unit on April 1. Four days later, he was told Abal would be assigned to another handler.

"There was no warning, no reprimand, no explanation or reason," Galanti's wife, Nicole, wrote on a change.org petition to Chief Thomas J. Nestel III. "Only the sudden unjust, unsupported transfer of one of the most experienced K9 handlers in the department and the removal of our beloved working dog Abal."

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The Gloucester County family says the dog has helped the family heal from the loss of their 14-year-old son Ben, who was hit by a car riding his bike in June 2014, and the loss of Galanti's mother to cancer a week later.

"As I sit here heartsick with tears falling, I am haunted by my 10-year-old crying himself to sleep. My daughter, sobbing, and my husband trying his best to stay strong for us," Nicole wrote on the petition.

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The petition had more than 70,000 signatures as of Friday morning.

Abal was a stray rescued from the streets of New York City, according to the family. He was trained and assigned to Galanti in the fall of 2013.

"We are the only family he has ever known," she wrote.

The family hoped that the dog would be retired, and they've even offered to purchase another dog, but haven't gotten an answer yet.

Kala Kachmar: @NewsQuip; 732-643-4061; kkachmar@gannettnj.com.