Conservation dogs playing a vital role in conservation
January 8, 2024 12:08 AM Subscribe
Oh, I love this!
Did you know that there's a pilot citizen science initiative currently ongoing in the US among people who do nosework for fun? Folks at Virginia Tech are experimenting with pilot programs to teach dogs who do recreational or competition nosework to detect spotted lanternfly eggs, so that people can volunteer themselves (and their dogs) at checkpoints to find and destroy the invasive flies. If I was closer to the East Coast I would totally sign up. As it is, I've been poking at training my young dog on birch oil using NACSW rules, and I really want to find a practice group and work more on that with her. If the pilot works well, perhaps more invasive species will be added to the program!
Dogs can be really effective conservation assistants if trained and deployed correctly, and their detection abilities really are extremely helpful. Because dogs can also be trained to hunt game specifically without chasing or harming other similar species, it also occurs to me that you could use dogs to help clear and detect larger invasive species--like the invasive brown tree snakes that the USDA trains Jack Russell Terriers to find and destroy before they can decimate Guam's wildlife, or the two Labs that the California Dept of Fish and Wildlife use to find and eradicate invasive nutria.
I'm also seeing more people interested in ratting and detection work through sports like Barn Hunt (although Barn Hunt is extremely clear and aggressive about maintaining safety for its rats). I have a friend who is part of a small urban ratting group with her dog Kermit, in which she and teams of handlers and dogs hunt rats locally with the dogs to clear local areas. I wonder sometimes whether this, too, might be a sport that could be repurposed for conservation functions, at least for areas in which humans are living alongside threatened local wildlife.
posted by sciatrix at 9:36 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Did you know that there's a pilot citizen science initiative currently ongoing in the US among people who do nosework for fun? Folks at Virginia Tech are experimenting with pilot programs to teach dogs who do recreational or competition nosework to detect spotted lanternfly eggs, so that people can volunteer themselves (and their dogs) at checkpoints to find and destroy the invasive flies. If I was closer to the East Coast I would totally sign up. As it is, I've been poking at training my young dog on birch oil using NACSW rules, and I really want to find a practice group and work more on that with her. If the pilot works well, perhaps more invasive species will be added to the program!
Dogs can be really effective conservation assistants if trained and deployed correctly, and their detection abilities really are extremely helpful. Because dogs can also be trained to hunt game specifically without chasing or harming other similar species, it also occurs to me that you could use dogs to help clear and detect larger invasive species--like the invasive brown tree snakes that the USDA trains Jack Russell Terriers to find and destroy before they can decimate Guam's wildlife, or the two Labs that the California Dept of Fish and Wildlife use to find and eradicate invasive nutria.
I'm also seeing more people interested in ratting and detection work through sports like Barn Hunt (although Barn Hunt is extremely clear and aggressive about maintaining safety for its rats). I have a friend who is part of a small urban ratting group with her dog Kermit, in which she and teams of handlers and dogs hunt rats locally with the dogs to clear local areas. I wonder sometimes whether this, too, might be a sport that could be repurposed for conservation functions, at least for areas in which humans are living alongside threatened local wildlife.
posted by sciatrix at 9:36 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
(I am as usual delighted to hear about what's going on in Aus: I just am only really plugged into Aussie working dog culture through a friend working with muster kelpies, so I have less in the way of "this is cool ways to implement this idea and/or get involved!" to bring up and share. I do suspect that there would be way more scope for that kind of thing in Aotearoa and Australia, though: y'all have more native wildlife under immediate risk of competition or outright predation from introduced invasive predators and competitors. I wonder if Hawaii would find similar efforts useful.)
posted by sciatrix at 9:40 AM on January 8
posted by sciatrix at 9:40 AM on January 8
Hmm. Read the title, surprised to find this post is not about a previously undiscovered Quentin Tarantino film. Oh well, never mind, carry on...
posted by zaixfeep at 11:32 AM on January 8
posted by zaixfeep at 11:32 AM on January 8
« Older Mouse secretly filmed tidying man’s shed every... | The dream, however, quickly turned nightmarish Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Dip Flash at 6:18 AM on January 8