Why Conservation Dogs Box

Why Conservation Dogs

Early detection is a key component of invasive species management, but detecting invaders early can be difficult due to initially sparse distributions of small or cryptic species. This is where dogs can be helpful. In 2010, the journal Invasive Plant Science and Management published a study that concluded trained dogs could smell and detect twice the number of invasive plants that humans could observe with their eyes. The addition of conservation dogs to the Trail Conference’s Invasives Strike Force (ISF) increases both the quality and quantity of our invasive surveys. Dogs help us find  unknown infested sites, establish infestation borders, and detect hard to find individuals that could lead to persisting infestations.