The Dog Who Found the Last 9/11 Survivor - Then Was Cloned 5 Times

When James Symington watched the World Trade Center towers fall on television, he didn't wait for orders. He loaded his German shepherd into the car and drove 15 hours straight from Nova Scotia to New York City to help.

The Dog Who Drove to Ground Zero

Trakr had joined the Halifax Regional Police canine unit in 1995, born in the Czech Republic and paired with Symington at just 14 months old. By September 11, 2001, they had worked together for six years. Arriving in the early hours of September 12, they joined the search-and-rescue operation at the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center. Under mountains of twisted steel and concrete - unstable, toxic, still burning - Trakr went to work.

27 Hours Under 30 Feet of Debris

On September 12, Trakr got a live hit. Under 30 feet of unstable rubble, he had found someone breathing. Rescuers dug to her: Genelle Guzman-McMillan, a Port Authority worker who had been on the 64th floor of the North Tower when the first plane struck. She had made it down to the 13th floor stairwell before the building collapsed around her, pinning her under concrete for 27 hours. She was the last of the 20 live survivors pulled from the entire World Trade Center complex - the final proof that anyone could still be found alive. After Genelle, no more survivors were recovered.

The Contest He Won Too Late

Trakr spent his final years in declining health. In 2008, his handler James Symington entered an essay contest run by BioArts International, a California-based company offering commercial dog cloning. The contest asked owners to make the case that their dog was the world's most "clone-worthy." More than 200 entries arrived. Symington's story of Trakr won.

BioArts sent Trakr's DNA to South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation - the lab that had performed the first-ever dog cloning in 2005. But Trakr did not live to see the results. He died in April 2009.

Five Puppies, Five Names

In June 2009, five cloned puppies were delivered to Symington. He named each one to reflect a quality of the original dog: Trustt, Solace, Valor, Prodigy, and Deja Vu. Each was genetically identical to Trakr - the dog who had refused to stop working at Ground Zero while the fires still burned.

Trakr was credited during his career with hundreds of arrests and recovering more than $1 million in stolen goods. But the thing he found on September 12, 2001 - a living person under 30 feet of wreckage, 27 hours after the towers fell - is what earned him five names.