Hey Woofa’s,

It’s no secret that dogs have an extraordinary sense of smell.

It’s also no secret that Australia has had one of it’s most horrific fire seasons in 2019-2020!

Did you know that an average of 27.2 million acres (6 million hectares) of Australian land has been burnt?

Koala numbers have been on the decline for a while due to habitats being destroyed for new housing estates, being run over on the roads, animal attacks and disease, to name a few.

In light of our recent bush fires our Koala’s have come extremely close to being extinct!!!

All over the news we have seen volunteers all over the state working to save our Koala’s.

One fantastic program is the Australian Detection Dogs!

WHAT IS THE AUSTRALIAN DETECTION DOG PROGRAM?

Dr Celine Frere and Dr Romane Cristescu  established the Australian Detection Dog Program  in 2015.

The gaol of the program is to improve conservation outcomes for vulnerable species in Australia.

The aim of the Detection Dog program is to protect Australia’s biodiversity and provide immediate benefits to communities.

The program is a not-for-profit organisation that is run from within the University of the Sunshine Coast.

TO DONATE – 

(details are direct from their website)

Make a donation via USC’s Payment Gateway.

100 percent of your donation will go towards the Detection Dogs for Conservation, and any donations over A$2 are tax deductible.

For more information on donating to this project contact: Kate Evans, Senior Development Manager, USC Development Office.

WHO ARE THE AUSTRALIAN DETECTION DOGS?

In the picture above (thanks to district bulletin from left to right we have – Baxter, Billie-Jean, Bear, Charlie and Maya.

Dogs can smell 1,000-10,000 times better than a human can.  Dogs can also be trained, with the right kind of motivation, to track anything that has an odour.

In the Detection Dog Program, all of the dogs are rescue dogs deemed too energetic for everyday family life.

The Detection Dogs are used to locate species such as quolls, koalas, koala scat (poo) and also to identify disease in populations which are impacted by human activity.

BillieJean – her role is to locate fresh koala scat/poo.  This fresh scat is used to test for DNA and the overall health of the koala.

Koala’s scat can stay in a location long after they have left, so to locate fresh scat is to locate a Koala that is close.

Maya – was the first koala scat detection dog ever trained.  She has proven to be 19 times quicker than her humans and 150% more accurate.  Studying the poo provides genetic, physiological, toxicological, hormone, dietary, chlamydia and other physiological information used to determine the animal’s health.

Bear – He came onto our screens during our recent bush fire disaster.  He is the dog that went in after disaster had struck to locate any living koalas.    So while the area was still hot he had protective wear on his feet and went straight in to find any koalas that may have been in distress.

HOW DO THEY TRAIN THE DETECTION DOGS?

According to the Detection Dog website, they visit local shelters and look for a dog with the right temperament for a conservation dog.

The perfect traits are – boundless energy, they need lots of exercise and are highly motivated by a ball.

The ball is used as a reward for the dog to keep them focused, they love to work and will work hard for their beloved ball.

To train the dogs for scat work, trainers place scat in locations for the dogs to find.  When they locate the correct scat, they are rewarded with their ball.

With koala location, koala fur is collected from local zoos where koala’s may have had fur shaved off for blood tests etc.

The fur is placed in locations by the trainers and the dogs are left to find it and when successful, they are rewarded with their ball.

Training any dog takes time, consistency and patience.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

The Detection Dog Program not only saves the dogs from shelters, it also helps save our local habitat and vulnerable species.

Get on Board and Donate today:

(details are direct from their website)

Make a donation via USC’s Payment Gateway.

100 percent of your donation will go towards the Detection Dogs for Conservation, and any donations over A$2 are tax deductible.

For more information on donating to this project contact: Kate Evans, Senior Development Manager, USC Development Office.

IN THE COMMENTS BELOW – BILLY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW – IF YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE DETECTION DOGS?

Cheers