Cover image via Ng Kor Ming (Facebook)
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The Fire and Rescue Department has marked a major milestone with the birth of its first locally bred K9 detection dog puppy.
And his name is Brave!
Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming announced in a Facebook post that the male Labrador puppy was born on 18 March to parents Lottie and Miles.
According to the minister, Brave was born at Bomba's K9 Unit Operational Training Centre in Bertam, Penang.
"A Labrador under the supervision of fire officer Nelson Karupak, named Lottie, successfully gave birth to the puppy.
"I have named him 'Brave' with the hope that he will become a courageous and strong four-legged hero in rescue operations," he said during the 2026 World Firefighters Day Carnival on Saturday, 9 May.
Brave
Image via Nga Kor Ming (Facebook)
Brave and his mum, Lottie.
Image via Nga Kor Ming (Facebook)Nga said the successful local breeding programme could help significantly reduce costs, as importing a trained detection dog from Birmingham, UK, typically costs around RM150,000 per dog
"Previously, our K9 units were sourced from breeding centres in Birmingham, where they were raised and trained before being sent to Malaysia," he said, reported the New Straits Times.
Nga added that his goal is for the fire department to eventually run its own K9 breeding and training programme.
"My vision is that one day, we can export them back to the UK and to ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia," he said.
Recognising the importance of the unit, Nga added that the government had previously approved RM2.4 million for the procurement of 16 new detection dogs from the UK
Currently, the fire department has 34 detection dogs, but another 56 are needed to reach optimum operational capacity.
He said the K9 unit has played an important role in speeding up victim search operations, improving the accuracy of fire investigations, and supporting disaster relief missions both locally and internationally, including the 2022 Batang Kali SAR mission and the 2023 earthquake mission in Türkiye.
