Dogs protecting wildlife

A dog’s exceptional ability to detect human and animal tracks and activities, pick up suspicious sounds and movements, localize snares and sniff out weapons, ammunition or parts of wild animals act as a serious deterrent to poachers. A working dog do not see color or money and they do not take bribes. They do what they’ve been trained for and they are their handler’s best friend. Wildhood have six dogs that have been trained and are now deployed working with rangers at strategic hotspots around southern Africa.

WHAT OUR DOGS DO ON DUTY

Patrol: dog with team is dopped in the bush to look for and remove snares that poachers hide in trees to catch animals. The team also look for injured animals or suspected activity linked to poaching. Dogs help rangers pick up sounds and movement of potential threats and they act as a serious deterrent when patrolling fence lines or gates, making the environment aware of their presence.

Detection: dogs sniff out specific scents of weapons, ammunition or parts of wild animals such as rhino horns, ivory or pangolin scales. Detection dogs are mainly used for targeted operations at gates, road blocks or when searching homes or suspected crime scenes.

Tracking: dogs help rangers track humans or animals in the bush. When rangers use their eyes to track, dogs use their nose which will make the tracking much faster.

OUR WORK

Our dogs Bandit, Kali, Chiwa, Zigge, Taku and Blake II are of the breeds Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherds, working dogs who need and like to work. However dogs are living material which requires constant re-training by certified handlers. Wildhood support the dogs’ food, training, equipment, medicines and veterinary care so they can stay healthy and continue to work and develop. Their health and well being is our priority one.

Each dog is valuable. Each dog takes years to train and they are a critical investment in the fight against wildlife crime. We are proud that all our dogs are, after years of training, deployed on hottspot locations around southern Africa. This is where the time and money spent on training is now being turned into action on the ground.

Kilo9 Academy is a committed group of certified dog handlers specialised in training working dogs to assist in the battle against poaching. Their animal friendly and cruelty free approach to training methods, always putting the dogs potential and interest first, is something we believe in and encourage. Wildhood Foundation partnered with Kilo9 Academy in 2017 to support the establishment of a working dog kennel near the Greater Kruger Park in South Africa. Since 2021 the kennel is bases in Eastern Cape. Wildhood support the team to train and deploy our dogs where it’s most needed and to continuously develop how dogs can be used to assist the the work for conservation.