These "conservation canines" help sniff out endangered species to save them. A heartwarming example of animals helping protect other animals. Love seeing the great work of @WD4C featured in @washingtonpost. https://t.co/Y6ckPjGfNV
— JG Collombđž (@WildlifeJG) September 14, 2023
Of course not every dog is fit or focused enough, but this sounds like the canine equivalent of ‘grow up to be a paleontologist who is *also* a firefighter’.
From the Washington Post, “Once-abandoned dogs are now trained to sniff out environmental clues” [Unpaywalled gift link]:
The dogs were stranded on the streets or sitting in shelters, dropped off by owners who couldnât handle the pupsâ strong will and frenetic energy. Their temperaments were too volatile.
One of them, Tigee, was seized by animal control for being too aggressive. The 7-year-old shepherd mix spent several weeks in isolation in a four-foot kennel in Virginia.
But Tigee was smart and had an intense attachment to his toys, so he was a perfect fit to be a âconservation canineâ â a dog trained to sniff out endangered species or other important environmental clues.
In 2017, Tigee was rescued by Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C), a conservation detection dog organization based in Turah, Mont. Tigee now lives in Zambia, where he uses his strong drive â and big black snout â to collect data in South Luangwa National Park and protect the regionâs wildlife, including pangolins, a scaly-skinned mammal that is a threatened species.
After a successful session collecting data, he is rewarded with toys and treats…
Tobias, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever, was found wandering around alone in Helena, Mont., in 2016.
He had a hyper personality, a trait Coppolillo said often makes dogs unappealing as family pets. Instead, he was taken in by WD4C and now spends his days sniffing out invasive zebra and quagga mussels in Montanaâs Glacier National Park. After a search, he also gets a toy and treats.
Tobiasâs co-worker Zoey, another 7-year-old shepherd mix, was a stray dog on the streets of Texas. She was rescued in 2017, and since then sheâs been using her stellar sniffing skills to find wild cats in Missoula, Mont., and conduct ecological monitoring â locating and safeguarding threatened and endangered species of plants and animals…
WD4C dogs have different duties, but their roles in each are much the same, in that they focus on ecological monitoring. Their job is mostly snout-centric.
They are trained to target certain odors â and alert their human handlers when theyâve found them…
The target odor, in most cases, is feces.
Fecal matter is extremely valuable to conservationists, as it offers insights into an animalâs pedigree, what they are related to and where they came from. It can also shed light on an animalâs hormone levels and dietary patterns, as well as toxins in their bodies.
âThe amount of information you can get from scat is always increasing because of fancier labs,â Coppolillo said…
*Insert your own Peter Baker / CNN / Meet the Press joke here
frosty
Great story in the Post! Thanks for bringing it here.
Albatrossity
A great story from NZ
Alison Rose
Glad I didn’t choose that line of work.
NotMax
Weeding out a persistent myth of the Old West.
;)
twbrandt
This is very cool, thanks for the link!
Jackie
This fits the Good News qualification!
NotMax
@Alison Rose
“No sh*t, Sherlock,” said no member of the team ever.
;)
Jeffro
If you like it, send the reporter a note! Â (I always try to do that with well-done educational and political stories)
ETA: and because this is a respite thread, I just deleted much glee over the House GOP’s complete shitshow…and the fact that it was just about named as such…in the same Post
So, some other time. Â Go awesome pups!
Alison Rose
Hey, way to go Pennsylvania jackals!
ETA beaten to the punch by Jackie :D
Dorothy A. Winsor
I know we say this all the time, but dogs are amazing.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Thanks for the story!
BlueGuitarist
@NotMax:
tumbleweeds at the OK Corral
should get blown away like the Leo Courtâs myth that gun control isnât a long standing part of our history:
âContrary to the popular imagination, bearing arms on the frontier was a heavily regulated businessâ
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gun-control-old-west-180968013/
Jay
@Albatrossity:
Thank you so much for that article.
Jackie
@Alison Rose: Great mindsâŚ!
Great news is worth repeating!đ
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I’ve recently been watching dolphin videos. They’re amazing creatures that are so much like us, good and bad.
Excited Dolphin
Excited Dolphin 2 (skip to 42 seconds in)
Suzanne
Professional poop-sniffing is not unlike my job.
Ken
Because my brain works that way, I immediately imagined the dog proudly presenting its horrified human with the (now even more) endangered animal that it tracked down and caught.
hells littlest angel
Get Paid To Sniff for Poop!
Worst clickbait headline ever.
mrmoshpotato
*Crying*
Leave firefighting paleontologists alone!
Jackie
More good news! TIFG called Peter Thiel, and Thiel basically told him Nope! đ
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Jurassic Bark.
//
mrmoshpotato
The calendar you never knew you needed.
Related to post
prostratedragon
Whar Tigee picture?
Would love to eavesdrop on Fenton and Patron comparing notes on their respective tasks.
BlueGuitarist
@Jackie:
@Alison Rose:
Tonight the Democratic candidate won a Republican held state house seat in New Hampshire, narrowing R majority in NH state house to 1 seat (out of 400) (yes, 400).
https://politicalwire.com/2023/09/19/democrats-flip-key-new-hampshire-seat/
Jackie
@BlueGuitarist: Yay!
One seat at a time! Special elections at the state level turning Blue/staying Blue is a great sign going forward!đđť
Soprano2
@Jackie: Goes with the thread last night about Democrats running for office everywhere. Eight years ago there was only one Democrat from my area in the state House; now there are 3. It’s slow but steady progress. Also see Dirt Road Democrats.
prostratedragon
More good news:
ETA: That flips the PA House.
Fester Addams
@Ken:
‘swhy they don’t use cats.