Dogs for Rhinos
Photo Credit: South African Wildlife College
In a world where rhinos are under increased threat, WWF South Africa understands that no single solution will disrupt illegal horn trade or secure their future.
Background
Based on the successes experienced in the use of dogs in anti-poaching work in Kruger National Park, a K9 training centre has been created at the Southern African Wildlife College. The focus is to develop dogs in disciplines that are considered to be of most benefit to the anti-poaching community and train field rangers to become specialists in handling them. As such, the centre produces free tracking dogs that are trained to locate, track and indicate the presence of fleeing poachers off lead as well as dogs trained to locate and indicate the crossing of borders and roads by poachers.
The Aim of the Project
Through the provision of effectively trained handlers and dogs, we envisage that poaching statistics will decrease substantially and arrests will increase. This will largely be due to the ability of the dogs to track at speeds much faster than people, and in terrain where the best human trackers would lose spoor.
For further information visit the SAWC website www.wildlifecollege.org.za