A cohort of Welsh puppies are going halfway around the world to play their part in saving some of Africa’s most majestic wildlife.
The BBC reported on Dogs 4 Wildlife, a Carmarthen-based organization founded by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law. The duo is passionate about wildlife conservation and saw an opportunity to broaden their horizons. Priddle told the BBC: Our love for dogs and our commitment to developing them for specialist work helped us to decide ‘why not?'”
The two deployed the pups for overseas conservation duty after 15 years of training operational working dogs.
“If we are able to train dogs to track people in this country, then why can we not train dogs to help protect our wildlife all across Africa? And that’s where Dogs 4 Wildlife was born,” Priddle recalled.
The dogs are bred in-house and then trained extensively from a young age to either team with anti-poaching rangers or work in specialist detection. So far, 15 of the group have made the journey to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique.
“There is no better feeling on this planet than to know that our dogs are saving lives,” Jacqui raved of their team’s work.
One dog, Shinga, has emerged as an early superstar in the team’s effort. The pup tracked a poacher almost 3 miles right to their home after the death of a warthog in Zimbabwe. The dogs are capable of tracking poachers over 12 miles.
Meanwhile, the specialist detection canines are stationed at key areas like airports to sniff out certain things that shouldn’t be transported, such as wildlife. Priddle and Law leaned into their background with police dogs to guide their training and credited partnerships with U.K. zoos to get the pups used to animal scents.
Dogs 4 Wildlife isn’t the first venture to use man’s best friend to help in some of our largest environmental challenges. Puppies have been a great ally in taking on invasive species such as lanternflies and wild parsnips. Dogs have also helped in conservation efforts around bumblebees — a valuable pollinator.
The potential to aid anti-poaching efforts is crucial for aiding governments and NGOs on the ground in protecting iconic animals like rhinos. Not only does poaching these animals create an imbalance in the ecosystem, it is also detrimental to local economies by discouraging ecotourism to see animals like lions and elephants.
Tackling these environmental and conservation challenges will require all hands (and paws) on deck. Dogs 4 Wildlife’s founders have no doubts that they’re just scratching the surface of what these pups can do.
“With a dog’s capabilities, they are able to increase and improve biodiversity and build on the diversity of an ecosystem,” Darren told the BBC of deploying their dogs worldwide.
“They are incredibly capable and intelligent animals, and what better way to use animals to save animals,” he added.
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