Conservation Canines: Helping Endangered Species

For twenty-five years, specially trained dogs have assisted wildlife researchers to study and aid endangered species around the world.

The Conservation Canines are part of the University of Washington’s Center for Environmental Forensic Science, formerly known as the Center for Conservation Biology. Dr. Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington (UW) founded the latter center and adapted the methods of the Washington State Department of Correction narcotic dog trainers to train canines to identify by scent wildlife scat that could be used to research endangered species. Currently, Dr. Wasser and John C. Hermanson, a research scientist with the UW School of Environmental and Forest Services, are co-directors of the forensic center.

Dr. Wasser’s original program was a huge success, starting with his own chocolate Labrador Retriever Mojo, followed by many other canines, including numerous Labrador mixes.

The dogs and handlers have worked worldwide to help researchers learn more about endangered species and environmental stressors.

So far, handlers have trained the dogs to detect the following odors:

• canines (wolves, coyotes, foxes)
• Mesocarnivores (American badger, fisher, pine martin, wolverine)
• birds of prey ( barred owl and spotted owl)
• felines ( including bobcat, Indochinese tiger, Mexican jaguar, leopard, lynx);
• large mammals (grizzly bear, giant anteater, southern resident killer whale, spotted hyena, tapir, pangolin)
• Ungulates (moose, caribou, reindeer)
• small mammals (Pacific Pocket Mouse, water shrew, Townsend’s long-eared bat),
• amphibians and reptiles
• plants (knotweed and garlic mustard, two invasive species of plants

The center’s training facility is located at the UW’s Pack Forest, a 4,300-acre site near Mount Rainier.

Julianne Ubigau, the group’s senior trainer and researcher, recalls a time when the conservation canine program was much larger. She says in 2018, the program downsized and shifted its primary focus from wildlife research to environmental forensics.

Now Ubigau and three UW wildlife biologists and researchers handle four dogs in the field. Ubigau works with Jasper, a black Labrador mix; Deborah Giles with a mix called Eba; Tammy Rock with Davy, a Working Kelpie; and John Soriero, a retired Army captain with Aladar, a chocolate Lab. In addition, Ubigau and a Jack Russell terrier named Casey visit school classrooms and speaking events to promote environmental research. Ubigau, a former high school teacher, says Casey only liked to work for an hour in the field before quitting for the day but he’s perfect for his new job. He loves his new retirement job of interacting with the public and sitting on laps of humans during outreach and education programs!

All of the current dogs are trained to detect animal scat, Ubigau says. Eba rides on a boat, moving around until she smells Southern Resident Killer Whale scat floating in the ocean. When she picks up that scent, she’ll stop, stiffen her body, and places her front legs on the boat’s rim. Giles then scoops up samples of the scat which are sent to the laboratory for DNA analysis. From the analysis, researchers learn the number of whales in the collection area as well as individual whales’ sex, toxin and stress levels, and their nutritional and pregnancy health.

Rock says the study was designed to help researchers learn why the whales weren’t reproducing as they had previously and why so many baby whales were dying so quickly. Thanks to the scat collection, they discovered that the decline in the whale population was not only caused by a decrease in salmon— the whales’ source of food— but also due to a combination of other factors, including increased boat traffic, and marine pollutants, evidenced by toxins discovered in the scat, according to Rock, a former computer security worker, and lifelong dog owner.

Ubigau notes that research on stress levels found in the Southern Resident Killer whales’ scat helped educate policymakers and played a role in supporting laws that prohibit boats from getting too close to the whales.

The Conservation Canines have conducted several years of carnivore monitoring in Washington. The study’s purpose is to determine if wolves live in Washington’s south-central Cascades and to collect information about other carnivores living there. So far, wolves have not settled in the Cascades south of I-90 but lots of other information has been collected, Ubigau says. She adds that in the past three years, the canine teams have collected more than 5,000 carnivore scats. The center’s genetics and hormone laboratory analyzed these scats which revealed the species identification and prey contents of each scat collected.

Ubigau says that in addition to DNA testing, hormone analyses of the scat provide researchers with information about the reproductive status and stress levels of the animals.

As of  2019, only 145 wolves were believed to live in northern, central Washington. whttps://www.biology.washington.edu/news/news/1594664100-1602612900/sam-wassers-research-finds-zero-wolves-south-cascades

In addition to scat work, Ubigau says the Conservation Canines also were trained to detect and help irradicate garlic mustard plants, an invasive species in western Washington. Before the study, humans conducted visual searches to find and remove the weeds. The use of scent detection dogs greatly aided in finding plants that were missed during the human search, she recalls.

TRAINING

The dogs are primarily trained at the UW’s Pack Forest. They learn to alert to animal scat, invasive species of plants, wildlife contraband, and PCBs.

Ubigau explains the training technique: First, the dogs are introduced to a sample of the scat. Next, they are trained to indicate the scat target by sitting alert and looking at their handler.

“We are the source of their reward— a ball, “ she says. “We wait until the dog sniffs the scat and then bounce a ball right in front of them.”

The handlers also play hide and seek- the dogs are asked to find the hidden scat and rewarded with a ball when they find their target.  “They scent by air and can recognize the odor.”

“The most important part of the dog handlers’ job is to rely on the dog. The dogs are the teachers and we learn from the dogs and can’t interfere with their natural instincts… we rely on the dogs and our reading of them,” Rock explains.

“Handlers must choose to trust their judgment,” Ubigau says. That can be difficult for new handlers, she adds.

The next phase of training is called bench training. A row of containers is placed on a low-rise table. Scat is placed in one container. The handler throws a ball as a reward when the dog correctly indicates the container containing the scat and alerts to the detection by sitting at the container. “ We are the source of their reward,” Ubigau notes.

This process is then applied to working in the field, she explains. The dog always alerts the same way— sitting alert at the scat, no matter the kind of scat. The DNA analysis tells researchers the specific identity of the scat, she adds.

RESCUED DOGS BECOME CONSERVATION CANINES

Ubigau says the UW Conservation Canines have been rescued from shelters, rescue organizations, and/or search and rescue organizations. Usually, these groups contact her team when they have an overly ball-crazy dog.

These dogs just aren’t suitable to be house pets, she notes. They have an incredible ball drive and may have separation anxiety.

Ubigau, who grew up with a Newfoundland that she showed in 4-H fairs, laughs as she recounts how she found Jasper.

Jasper had been turned into the shelter because of separation anxiety. Ubigau saw a picture of him online and realized someone was holding a ball behind the photographer so he’d look alert. She loved the intensity in his eyes as he watched what she was certain was a ball. She thought he just might be a good fit for the conservation dog corps because her group looks for canines with super, super intensity for balls.

“I was in a hurry and asked to see him” when she got to the shelter, she recounts. The attendant tried to persuade Jasper to show off his skills at sitting but the dog just ignored him. Instead, he focused on a ball just outside of the fenced-in kennel yard area. He started digging trying to get at the ball. “The volunteer was mortified; I was elated that he was trying to get the ball.” Jasper’s ball actions sealed the deal!

Ubigau admits she’s had some tense moments with Jasper. She left him in her car with the sunroof cracked for air and went into Safeway to pick up some groceries. Then she heard a loudspeaker announcement for the owner of a car with a license plate number … return to your car. Her heart sunk. It was her car.

Somehow Jasper had pried open the sunroof wide enough for him to climb out of the car and wait for her outside of Safeway. He’s also leaped out of house windows and chewed up household items during his first few months of being left alone at home. But since she’s directed most of his energy into working as a hard-driving conservation canine, his separation anxiety has almost completely dissipated.

ILLEGAL WOOD AND PCB DETECTION

With the switch of the program’s emphasis to forensics investigation, the Conservation Canines are learning to detect illegal wood— such as rosewood— that comes into this country in ship containers. The goal is to identify contraband coming into this country by capturing air from the containers for the dogs to sniff and alert if they contain contraband.

Ubigau says the method could also be applied to the detection of ivory and pangolins, a highly trafficked animal from Asia that looks similar to armadillos. The meat of pangolins is considered a delicacy by some and their scales are used for medicinal purposes and fashion accessories.

She adds that the Conservation Canines will be trained to detect these illegal products from air samples vacuumed off the air of shipping containers. This means the containers won’t have to be opened and little disruption in the shipping process will occur unless the canines sniff contraband!

For more information about the Conservation Canines, see: http://www.washington.edu/conservationbiology/research-programs/conservation-canines

https://conservationbiology.uw.edu/