Credit: Photo via LCSO/Twitter

Credit: Photo via LCSO/Twitter
This morning the Lake County Sheriff’s Office decided to rename their new bloodhound puppy after the handler had inadvertently named the dog “Rommel,” which is the same name as a World War II Nazi general who was accused of using North African Jews as slave laborers.

“Meet LCSO's newest Bloodhound, Rommel,” read a post to the LCSO’s Twitter account. “He is a 10 week old liver colored bloodhound now assigned to Master Deputy Meintzschel. Rommel will soon begin his rigorous training to support the community by locating missing persons, fugitives, and evidence. Welcome aboard Rommel!”

Lake County Sheriff’s Office made the announcement at 5 a.m. on Friday via social media, but just a few hours later, and after some poignant backlash from the public, the agency reintroduced the dog as “Scout” in a new post, stating that the handler had merely named the dog after a childhood pet, also with the same name as a Nazi war criminal.


“Although our new bloodhound was named after a childhood pet of the handler, he learned that the name is also tied to a #nazi war criminal,” read a Twitter post at 11 a.m. “MD Meintzschel immediately rectified the issue by renaming him Scout! Welcome Scout to LCSO!”

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Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL's parent...