Super-sniffing spaniel rescues burnt koalas
Taylor, a four-year-old English springer spaniel, has been among the hard-working rescuers during Australia’s bushfire crisis.
When told “Koala, Find!” Taylor ventures out into burntout bushland, finding injured marsupials by sniffing out the scent of their fur or droppings.
Each time she finds a koala she is rewarded with a tennis ball or culinary treat.
The fires have killed 29 people and razed bushland across an area the size of Bulgaria.
Australia’s koala population has also been severely affected.
In New South Wales state alone, officials estimate 30% of koala habitat — eucalypt woodlands, which they use for food and shelter — may have been lost. An A$50m (R497m) emergency wildlife recovery programme launched by the federal government this week will focus on the survival of the iconic native animal.
Taylor, meanwhile, has been focused on finding injured koalas since she was just a few months old and is now an expert.
“In ideal conditions where the air is still, the smell of the animal actually drops down from the tree and Taylor can smell them; she’ll sit right below them and point up to them and show us where they are,” trainer Ryan Tate said.
He runs the Tate Animal Training Enterprises, which specialises in detector dog services.
“In high wind conditions or in difficult conditions, she’s also trained to find their scats [droppings] and when she finds fresh scats, we can let the experts know where the scats are, and they will scan the canopy and usually find the animal,” Tate said.
The koalas’ heavy fur and tendency to climb higher when threatened are severe disadvantages in fast-moving bushfires.
Several of the koalas found by Taylor have been treated at Port Macquarie’s Koala Hospital, a specialist facility and tourist attraction that has been overrun in the crisis.
Officials have said the full extent of the damage to the koala habitat will not be known until the fires are out, which is probably several months away.