UPenn animal doctor studies effects of 9/11 on first-responder canines

Much of the focus of the 9/11 10-year anniversary is on those who died, lost loved ones or responded to the terrorist attacks that left thousands dead. A tribute in Jersey City this weekend honors responders of another sort: canines.

University of Pennsylvania veterinarian Cynthia Otto will be at the event, as she went to New York City shortly after the World Trade Center attacks with 10 first-responder dogs.

Otto talked with KYW about the work she’s doing now: studying the effects of 9/11 on those dogs. Though many of the dogs have died in the decade since the attack, Otto says her research will be helpful in the future, and does offer some interesting clues.

Lung cancer, for example, appears not to be much of an issued for the dogs, the way it’s been in human responders. The dogs, living and deceased, will be honored Sunday in Jersey’s Liberty State Park.