Wildlife Detection Dogs - A Conservationist's Best Friend?
You’ve most likely heard about the use of dogs to sniff out contraband at airports, find missing people or even help detect cancer, but have you heard of wildlife detection dogs?
Illustration by Alicia Hayden.
Wildlife detection dogs, also known as conservation dogs, work with handlers to obtain information about target species. This definition encompasses both dogs working in wildlife crime, such as animal trafficking and poaching, and dogs working to detect wildlife for surveys and bio-security. This article will focus on the latter. Using dogs to aid conservation efforts is not a new practice. First used in the 1890s to successfully locate kiwi in New Zealand, the function of these dogs and the species they help to conserve has expanded in recent years.
Why use dogs in the first place?
The most obvious reason is for their super sniffing abilities. Without going too much into the specific biology of their nose, there is a labyrinth of thin bones which provide a very large surface area for 300 million olfactory receptors (humans have 5 million olfactory receptors in comparison), and allows maximum contact with the air containing the odour molecules. Additionally, dogs have a structure in their nose, separate from the respiratory section, which allows them to “hold on” to an odour even after air has been exhaled. All this is to say, dogs can detect things which can’t be seen or heard by humans, and their sense of smell can be utilised in a diverse range of tasks and contexts, from detecting animal faeces (the most common use), to finding live animals and plants, or animal carcasses too.
It’s not just their nose which contributes to dogs’ potential for being effective wildlife detectors, many organisations that use conservation dogs cite other benefits such as being non-invasive, as dogs (if properly trained) can search vegetation with minimal disturbance compared to humans. It is also cost effective, since dogs can search an area of 100 square metres in 45 minutes, which cuts the search time in half compared to a human search team.
In what areas of conservation can these dogs be used?
Paws for Conservation use dogs in ecological species surveys and have had great success with finding bat carcasses for wind farm surveys in particular. In fact, their dogs are 98.2% efficient in bat carcass surveys! A study suggests that dogs are not affected by factors such as carcass size, vegetation characteristics and weather conditions – they still have an 80% detection rate compared to humans who have a 20% detection rate. In many cases, dogs are now considered the best practice monitoring tool for carcass detection at wind farm surveys.
Dogs can be trained to detect plants too. This is of particular importance when it comes to invasive species which often pose a problem for native species; invasive plants alone cost Britain £2 billion each year. A study in the US investigated the capacity of dogs to detect a rare invasive knapweed plant and found that, although there was no difference in accuracy between dogs and humans when detecting large knapweed targets, dogs were 67% accurate when detecting small knapweed targets, compared to the 34% accuracy of humans. This is of significance because being able to detect invasive plants before they spread beyond control is key for their management. The dogs were also able to detect a greater percentage of the small targets (80%) from a large distance, compared to humans (20%). These are promising results because they suggest that the usual constraints posed by the low density and detectability of an invasive plant species could be overcome by using dogs.
The detection of invasive species is also important when it comes to the biosecurity of particularly fragile ecosystems, such as the Galapagos. Giant African Land Snails are the largest species of terrestrial snail and are an aggressive invasive species in the Galapagos. In 2014, handlers and two dogs (Neville and the aptly named Darwin) were trained as part of a canine detection unit for the Galapagos Biosecurity Agency. These dogs were a game changer in fighting this invasive species – before this, agency employees had to search for and collect these camouflaged snails by hand, often on rainy nights with basic equipment such as torches, buckets and machetes. The dogs proved so successful that they expanded their CV experience to detecting prohibited organic products from entering the Galapagos via luggage and cargo. Darwin recently retired and was presented with a service award by the Galapagos Minister of the Environment.
Amazingly, dogs have also been used to aid the conservation efforts of aquatic animals, such as North Atlantic right whales. The conservation of large cetaceans is particularly difficult because it’s hard to collect the usual types of samples, such as blood and faeces, from free-swimming individuals, which are used as indicators of health, diet, reproduction, disease and stress. But bringing dogs on board can help to increase the faecal sample acquisition rate by more than 4-fold compared to opportunistic sampling. Dogs can also detect samples from as far as one nautical mile, minimising any potential disturbance.
Is there anything conservation dogs can’t do?
The breadth of settings in which conservation dogs are used is certainly impressive but this can belie the complexity of their successful implementation. Below is a brief outline of points to consider when using conservation dogs, and improvements that could be made in this area.
Currently, there is a lack of standardised training methods and performance testing across the sector. This could be viewed as a positive since a “one size fits all” approach might not allow for such a diverse range of applications. However, the sector would benefit from training guidelines for each type of use to ensure quality results from surveys, and the development of a certification process as a form of standard recognition of dogs as a conservation tool.
More evidence-based research is needed especially for using dogs to determine the likely absence of a target species.
Dog training should be carried out in a wide range of conditions so that they are not affected by what might be considered sub-optimal conditions. For example, in the case of bat carcass surveys, training should cover detection of carcasses at all stages of decomposition as this is likely to affect the scent.
Handler training also needs to be carefully considered as, although the dogs are often the star of the show, handlers are equally important for a successful working partnership. A study found that, when detecting jaguar scats, experienced dog-handler teams had an 81% accuracy rate whereas inexperienced dog-handler teams collected 50% non-target species. Handlers should particularly focus on learning to correctly interpret their dog’s signals and identify the target species themselves.
Selection criteria for dogs (and handlers), such as personality traits will affect how suitable a dog is for wildlife detection. Desirable characteristics often include high energy, being ball-motivated, good endurance, boldness, and an ability to stay focused whilst searching, depending on the task at hand. Similarly, physical characteristics might also need to be considered as certain features may be preferable depending on the situation, eg. if the vegetation in the search area is thorny, a dog with longer fur might be preferable to provide them with better protection.
A recent study investigating the use of conservation dogs globally found that in 90% of studies conservation dogs worked more effectively than other monitoring methods. And this is before the gaps in knowledge have been addressed and improvements made, so it seems that conservation dogs certainly do have the capacity to be an “outstanding monitoring method”, and even perhaps a conservationist’s best friend.
Maddy Simmonds
Maddy is a Zoology graduate from the University of Exeter and her passions include conservation, anthrozoology and science communication. She often draws inspiration from connecting with nature in everyday life and hopes to encourage people to also be just as excited by local conservation stories as international ones. She enjoys how writing not only allows her to share information with others, but that she is also able to learn new things for herself in the process.
You can follow Maddy on her nature-based instagram account @nature_nutter.