the scent of conservation

Dogs are important members of many families. Canine companionship may provide health benefits, like reducing stress and anxiety and lowering blood pressure. Beyond this, dogs have proven to be valuable contributors to IFAW’s wildlife conservation projects around the world, using their strong sense of smell, which can be up to 100,000 times as powerful as a human’s.

Benin, Africa: In 2018 IFAW offered support to the government of Benin to expand the K9 Brigade in the city of Cotonou. The ‘detection dogs’ who are part of this Brigade are trained to sniff out ivory and pangolin scales and are deployed at Cotonou airport, ready to thwart potential poachers and illegal wildlife trafficking. Selected from breeders and shelters, there are currently eight working dogs who have trained for this mission for months before being paired with officers from the Waters and Forests Department.

Zimbabwe, Africa: As part of our partnership with ZimParks, we support the Umtshibi Canine Unit— the main coordination camp for detection dogs at Hwange National Park. These 12 detection dogs are specialized in different skills, including tracking contraband. Rangers and their dogs have been deployed at three of Zimbabwe’s national parks and have recovered firearms and other personal items from poachers.

Officer Nabil and dog Nariz are part of the Benin Detection Dog Project.

Queensland and NSW, Australia: Due to bushfires and deforestation, the koala population is under severe threat. We have partnered with the University of the Sunshine Coast Detection Dogs for Conservation team for a groundbreaking research project to understand how koalas have survived the aftermath of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires. As part of this program, dogs search for koala scat, which is analyzed by experts to tell the story of a koala’s digestive health. The research aims to determine how resilient koalas are after natural disasters and the recovery potential for koala populations.

With support from donors like you, working dogs play an important role in the IFAW family, as we rely on their optimism, hard work and scent-tracking to help us rescue animals and conserve their habitats around the world.