Application of a team of conservation dogs and dog-handlers
Conservation Dog Karetta finds a dead turtle
Turtle Foundation
Dogs have a highly developed sense of smell that enables them to locate hidden objects and follow traces of odorous objects. Thanks to their excellent ability to perceive acoustic and olfactory impressions, they are the ideal complement to humans in detecting difficult-to-see situations despite the darkness. Because of this profile, conservation dogs can provide valuable services in tracking and tracing poachers, for example. Dogs are also increasingly used for research, surveillance and protection purposes on sea turtle nesting beaches.
The training of the dog handlers and the conservation dogs is done by an expert dog trainer. The dog trainer spends at least 6 weeks per year on the project side and accompanies the team with online trainings.
The dogs' most important task is to search larger areas during beach patrols in order to detect unauthorised persons. Furthermore, they are specially trained to detect turtle meat and are able to find it in travellers' luggage at ports and airports, as well as in houses and cars. The dogs are also trained in mantrailing. This means that they are able to follow poachers who have left objects such as clothing, knives or ropes at the scene of a crime to which their scent adheres. This supports the local law enforcement authorities to track and prosecute poachers.
a dog trainer who will supervise the project on a regular and long-term basis
suitable dogs for which training as a conservation dog is possible
dog handlers, who have a special talent and interest in the care and training of the dogs
Specialized equipment which allows the team to provide the dogs with a good quality of life (food, medication, cooling blankets etc) and mobility (specially adapted car)
Dogs are living creatures that can also suffer injuries and become incapacitated. As we are already unable to use one dog as a working dog anymore, we are currently training 3 dogs in parallel in order to minimise the risk of failure.
We started accompanying the dog team with the drone. In flight training and tactical lessons, the rangers learned to radio the information generated by the aircraft to the team on the ground. This allowed us to significantly increase the safety of the dog team on the ground.
Apart from continuous training, the team also uses the sea turtle off-season to educate communities about our work and more broadly about sea turtles and environmental conservation. We organize events with schools and bring the dogs along to demonstrate their skills to the children. The dogs really capture the attention of children, which allows us to have important discussions about conservation while they interact with them.
Partnership Collaboration, Action Planning and monitoring progress:
Building up: Implementation and Monitoring—role of self-analysis, fundraising and tools
Implementation is the desire of any plan. It is the “boots on the ground” that counts. A portion of the equation is developing a protected area enforcement plan. Equally important is the capacity to implement. To determine ability to implement, an organization must carry out a self-analysis. The plan can outline fundraising needs: capacity needs, equipment and tools. Additionally, an organization can have a buildup period for implementation showing donors the full picture of desired impact.
Adequate financing and resources are needed for implementation and monitoring. If you have these then tracking and monitoring provides the results needed to show the benefit of an enforcement plan.
The enforcement strategy is a plan, implementation is determined by other factors such as resources. The plan can be a fundraising tool as it clearly outlines desired state and needs.
Enforcement involves more than just one organization. The entire process in development and implementation of an enforcement strategy must be participatory. Ultimately, stakeholders must be involved as they can have a positive or negative effect on outcomes. In this case local government agencies are crucial to be involved (i.e coast guard, police, military, government agencies). Equally important are community members of influence who can become stewards educating on legislation and the protected area rules ultimately to help reduce poaching. Additionally, the value of strong community support is the fact that they can become “eyes on the ground”.
All partners are to be equally valued in terms of input as this will affect implementation. Process of engagement and facilitation are key.
Ease of implementation of the enforcement plan is directly tied to having good partners and community support.
Partnerships between key local actors and multi-sectorial, transboundary collaborations
Effective communication
Situational Analysis—National Context for enforcement of selected Protected Area
In order to develop your enforcement strategy there are key pieces of information that must be collated and understood. These include lay of the land (why is the protected area important, what are the natural assets that need protection), legal framework (what laws apply, what agencies are involved in protected area enforcement/management), and finally what do you want to focus on: enforcement goals.
Informed, capacitated people should be involved in the process. Enforcement goals need to be S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), this can only happen if the context is correctly represented.
Context is key in the design of enforcement goals. Having a participatory process gets support and buy in from partner agencies and communities making enforcement “easier”.
