Aussie dogs sniff out threatened species

SYDNEY: Australian dogs are being trained to sniff out the droppings of endangered animals in a scheme that offers greater understanding of threatened species through the less intrusive method of canine tracking.

Emma Bennett, a PhD candidate at Monash University in Melbourne, is working with environmentallyconscious dog owners who have volunteered their pets in a rainforest region of Victoria state to track the scats, or droppings, of the endangered tiger quoll, a small marsupial.

“Scats contain DNA, so you can identify the individual animal,” Bennett said yesterday.

“They also contain information about diet distribution.”

The dogs – of varying breeds, including border collies and German shepherds – have been found to have “very high” early detection rates of 50% to 70% accuracy in discovering the samples.

“They are working just as efficiently as you would expect a fulltime working dog to,” Bennett said.

Using canines to obtain the faeces sample is a “non-invasive” alternative to traps, reducing the risk of injury or stress, she added.

“When you collect scats you don’t impact the threatened species at all, but you’re still able to collect its DNA and a whole range of other information about it, so you don’t have to trap the animal,” she said.

She expects her study will be expanded to track other threatened species, with the use of volunteer dogs opening up the research techniques to smaller community groups as a cheaper alternative.

“There is potential for finding someone who is passionate about dog training to step up and go: ‘I can help find that rare orchid or burrowing frog’,” Bennett said. — AFP