Film tracks Irish dog that guarded rhinos
POOCH SENDS POACHERS PACKING
A TOUCHING film about an Irish dog deployed to protect rhinos from poachers in Africa has been selected to feature at New York’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival next month.
Canine was created by Dublinbased director Paul Webster, who followed elite dog trainer Rory Hennebry as he got a Belgian Malinois pup named AK ready for deployment.
Rory has been training security dogs for decades and runs the renowned Munster Canine facility in Co Cork.
Around five years ago, he got a call from the owner of a reserve in South Africa who wanted to enquire about pricing.
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The owner was trying to fend off poachers who had been targeting an endangered species in the area. Rory immediately wanted to help.
“Conservation has always been a subject that’s been close to my heart and I’ve had a great deal of interest in it since I was young,” he told The Star.
“I think a lot of the time we get desensitized to the plight of the rhino and elephants out there because we’ve heard about it for so long but the truth is that the situation is getting more dire.
“It’s far worse than it was 30 years ago. If it keeps going at the rate it is there will be no rhino left soon.
“So I saw this as an opportunity to help. I said if they could cover the logistics of getting the dog out there I would provide one free of charge. A lot of people were interested in helping.”
Rory started a GoFundMe page in an effort to send more dogs to Africa and eventually created his charity, K9 Wildlife Project, in 2022.
AK was the first dog to be trained as part of the project.
The feisty pup was brought to Rory at two-months-old by a family who felt they couldn’t handle his intensity - which is what made him perfect for the role of an anti-poaching tracking dog.
A friend of Rory’s, John Kavanagh (the coach of UFC fighter Conor McGregor), shared information about the project on his Instagram page. It caught the eye of Paul, who thought it would make a great short film.
Rory said: “I’m so happy for Paul. The film won a few awards in Ireland, including the audience award at the Cork Film Festival, so it did really well here but to get accepted to the Tribeca Film Festival is just huge.”