Animal Brush, Recovered
- Description
- Recovered Brosse brand curry dog brush. The brush is meant to be held in the palm of a hand and is made of off-white and red-orange plastic and metal bristles. There are dog hairs in the brush.
- Historical Notes
- Port Authority Police Department Lieutenant David Lim, who survived the North Tower collapse, used this curry brush to groom his canine partner, Sirius, a PAPD K-9 killed in the South Tower collapse on 9/11.
Curator's Comment
Port Authority Police Department Lieutenant David Lim and his trained bomb-sniffing canine partner, Sirius, were in the basement of the South Tower when hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower. Certain that people would need assistance, Lim decided he would be most effective responding on his own. Securing Sirius in his kennel, Lim promised to return for him.
Lim aided in the evacuation of the North Tower. He had climbed to the 44th floor when he heard a loud rumble, unaware that this sound was the South Tower collapsing. Reversing course, he later joined firefighters assisting a woman in distress and was helping to carry her down from the fifth floor in stairway B when the building collapsed. Sheltered within the stairwell, Lim and the group survived, and his radio still functioned. Rescuers heard their calls for help and extricated them. Emergency personnel transported Lim to St. Vincent’s Hospital, overruling his wish to search for his canine partner. Sirius’s remains, found in 2002, were given a ceremonial escort out of the site.
After 9/11, a damaged Port Authority Police Department’s K-9 Jeep Cherokee was taken from Ground Zero to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. PAPD Lieutenant David Lim and his canine partner Sirius, had used the Jeep while on the job. In 2002, the Jeep was spared destruction by individuals tasked with identifying artifacts salvaged at Ground Zero for preservation and storage at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Hangar 17. The Jeep was housed there for several years before its interior was searched for items that would be of interest to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The curry brush was discovered during this search. It had been kept handy by Lim to groom Sirius.
Lim aided in the evacuation of the North Tower. He had climbed to the 44th floor when he heard a loud rumble, unaware that this sound was the South Tower collapsing. Reversing course, he later joined firefighters assisting a woman in distress and was helping to carry her down from the fifth floor in stairway B when the building collapsed. Sheltered within the stairwell, Lim and the group survived, and his radio still functioned. Rescuers heard their calls for help and extricated them. Emergency personnel transported Lim to St. Vincent’s Hospital, overruling his wish to search for his canine partner. Sirius’s remains, found in 2002, were given a ceremonial escort out of the site.
After 9/11, a damaged Port Authority Police Department’s K-9 Jeep Cherokee was taken from Ground Zero to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. PAPD Lieutenant David Lim and his canine partner Sirius, had used the Jeep while on the job. In 2002, the Jeep was spared destruction by individuals tasked with identifying artifacts salvaged at Ground Zero for preservation and storage at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Hangar 17. The Jeep was housed there for several years before its interior was searched for items that would be of interest to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The curry brush was discovered during this search. It had been kept handy by Lim to groom Sirius.
- Accession Number: C.2011.179.94
- Dimensions: 2 in X 4.125 in X 3.375 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 5.08 cm X 10.4775 cm X 8.5725 cm
- Source: Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (donor)
- Credit Line: Recovered from the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001
Collection 9/11 Memorial Museum, Courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
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