{"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":"

\"Rogue,<\/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.)
\n<\/p>\n

Can Dogs Do a Better Job Than People?<\/h3>\n

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