{"id":2818,"date":"2008-08-26T13:46:34","date_gmt":"2008-08-26T13:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2008-08-26T13:46:34","modified_gmt":"2008-08-26T13:46:34","slug":"the-nature-conservancy-can-dogs-help-find-and-save-endangered-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/the-nature-conservancy-can-dogs-help-find-and-save-endangered-species\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nature Conservancy: Can Dogs Help Find and Save Endangered Species?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Rogue prefers his steak medium-well. But when it comes to sniffing out a rare plant, this dog performs work that\u2019s very well done, indeed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 4-year-old Belgian sheepdog is part of a Nature Conservancy collaborative project to test the efficacy of using dogs to sniff out the threatened Kincaid\u2019s lupine<\/a><\/strong>. The plant is host to the endangered Fender\u2019s blue butterfly<\/a>, found only in Oregon\u2019s Willamette Valley.<\/p>\n Watch a video of Rogue in action!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Using detector dogs for such inventory work is new territory: No one\u2019s tried it before<\/strong>.<\/p>\n But since dogs use their remarkable sense of smell to uncover illegal drugs or locate missing persons, why not use them to help find and protect endangered plants and animals?<\/p>\n Rogue\u2019s reward for finding the correct plant? That steak. (Or sometimes mackerel.) The project was the idea of Greg Fitzpatrick, steward for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon<\/a>. The Conservancy has been working for more than a decade to improve habitat for the Fender\u2019s blue in Willamette Valley, where less than 2 percent of historic upland prairie and oak habitat remain.<\/p>\n But Fitzpatrick found that surveying for Kincaid\u2019s lupine was often arduous work over difficult terrain. And humans can only survey when the lupine is in bloom and easily identifiable; using dogs could potentially double the field season for locating lupine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Fitzpatrick pitched his idea to ecologist Dave Vesely of the Oregon Wildlife Institute<\/a>. (Vesely previously used Rogue for native turtle work.) He contacted Alice Whitelaw, co-founder of the Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation<\/a> in Montana, and the team decided to give it a try:<\/p>\n On a recent morning, Rogue, Vesely and Fitzpatrick waded through yellow, knee-high prairie. When ready, Vesely hollered: “Search!”<\/p>\n And Rogue did. Nose to the ground, he purposefully wove through the grass, stopped, then sat. He anxiously waited beside a leafy plant that turned out to be lupine \u2014 his black ears visible through the tangle of grasses. (See a video of Rogue in action<\/a>!)<\/em><\/p>\n “Good boy!” Vesely exclaimed, tossing a cube of steak.<\/p>\n “Dogs, in most cases, are more accurate and are quicker than people are,” explains Whitelaw. Her detection dogs work around the globe to support projects on bears, wolves, cheetahs, snakes, invasive plants and more.<\/p>\n “[The lupine work] is huge, in terms of the dog\u2019s ability to discern species and how that can be used for conservation,” she adds.<\/p>\n The team is still scrutinizing its research and producing a paper about their findings. But so far, they\u2019re pretty excited about the possibilities. More refined regional mapping of Kincaid\u2019s lupine could promote the butterfly\u2019s recovery and delisting \u2014 and contribute to larger habitat goals and wildlife impacts.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re really, really pleased with our dogs,” says Vesely.<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s not yet clear how long it will take a working dog to comb an area for lupine, this much is certain: they can do it. According to Whitelaw, they can also know up to a dozen targets at a time, which prompts questions like:<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Whitelaw continues to lavish praise on project partners and working dogs, Fitzpatrick is stunned his idea has come full circle, and Vesely is intent on compiling the data and fishing for more funding to continue the project.<\/p>\n The research is currently funded by a grant from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund<\/a> and is supported by the Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/a>, Greenbelt Land Trust<\/a> and others.<\/p>\n “There\u2019s nothing more fun than being out working with these dogs in the morning, when the birds are singing, and you know you\u2019re doing good conservation work,” says Vesely. “I just love it.”<\/p>\n Photo of Rogue \u00a9 Jen Newlin Bell\/TNC<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" <\/a><\/p>\n Rogue prefers his steak medium-well. But when it comes to sniffing out a rare plant, this dog performs work that’s very well done, indeed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 4-year-old Belgian sheepdog is part of a Nature Conservancy collaborative project to test the efficacy of using dogs to sniff out the threatened Kincaid’s lupine<\/a><\/strong>. The plant is host to the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly<\/a>, found only in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\nCan Dogs Do a Better Job Than People?<\/h3>\n
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Rogue Puts His Nose to the Ground<\/h3>\n
Can Dogs Help Even More?<\/h3>\n
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