Wildlife and dogs usually don’t go together. Yet Australia’s devastating wildfires got brave dogs to use their brilliant noses to assist rescuers in protecting a billion animals that were affected by the fires.
There are already stories about Taylor and Bear, who are dogs trained for detecting koalas. They helped the rescuers find survivors hidden in the burnt debris. Smudge is now making his entrance, donning his fireproof equipment to help with searching.
Dr. Kellie Leigh, a search volunteer, explained to San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy.that the Blue Mountains location was challenging since they are stressful habitats to search for koalas.
Rescuers can usually spot surviving koalas in a few areas because they are seen clinging to the trees. But the brush in said Blue Mountains area is to thick to look around. Leigh said that the trees could be huge and have a dense canopy where only looking would yield no results.
Smudge became part of the team after showing he can find about double the koala scat that humans could find in an hour in just five minutes. Smudge has helped rescuers be more efficient in searching. He had helped discover a lot of koalas in a fraction of the time spent before he joined.
Leigh said that the detection dogs were unbelievable in the field. She also said that they tried multiple other methods, but the dogs proved to be the most effective.
Rescuers can narrow the search area to a few trees with koala droppings. Finding these droppings near a tree trunk means a higher chance of finding a burned, frightened, and possibly hungry koala. Smudge runs ahead to search for droppings then goes back to the rescuers to show them what he saw.
Leigh said that the dogs would assist them with finding the scat. After that, if the scat is fresh, they will start a more intense search and maybe find the koala.
Meet Smudge, an essential member of the Australia search and rescue team. For conservationists, finding a koala hiding in a tree is nearly impossible—but not for Smudge! He's helping the team locate survivors after mega-fires blazed through the area. 🐶🇦🇺EndExtinction.org/Help
Posted by San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy on Monday, January 20, 2020
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