A Rocha India has just welcomed its newest and youngest team member – a Belgian Malinois to join their pioneering Elephant Anti-Depredation Dog Squad (EaDDS). As a breed, they are courageous, athletic and have a high capacity for work.
This little pup has started her training to help ease human and elephant conflict as a conservation detection dog. Specifically, the dogs will work with the Elephant Task Force of the Karnataka Forest Department to track elephant movement and prevent them from entering human-dominated spaces.
The Bannerghatta National Park is surrounded by 77 villages practicing subsistence farming. Wild elephants can not only damage crops but also cause fatalities. The canine unit is a proactive measure for mitigating human-elephant conflict around Bannerghatta. It helps reduce time taken to identify the exact location of elephants during instances of conflict, which usually happen at night.
The new puppy is undergoing a careful training process, supported by a panel of expert dog trainers. She is living in a canine training facility setup by A Rocha solely for the purpose of the project. They have refurbished a rented property in Bannerghatta with a fully functional kennel, training ground, housing for dog handlers and other needed amenities. The hope is for the project to be eventually handed over to the forest department, who are fully engaged in and supportive of the pilot phase.
For more about this innovative conservation project, click here.
Images:
Sudhamshu Rao, Conservation Officer A Rocha India, with the puppy
Photos by Mel Ong
