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Conservation Dogs / Feed

Conservation dogs are making a difference in conservation through their noninvasive ability to detect elusive species in the wild, flag illegal wildlife trade products, and help poachers fight wildlife crime. Whether you work with conservation dogs, you're interested in incorporating them into your work, or you just want to learn about how dogs can support and enhance conservation technology's effectiveness, you're in the right place!

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Detection dogs sniff out South Australia's elusive Murray-Darling carpet python

Paul Bunker

26 May 2025 9:36pm

Murray-Darling carpet python populations in South Australia have declined due to loss of habitat and predation. Trials using conservation detection dogs to find the snakes in the Riverland have so far had positive results.

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discussion

GPS collars for domestic dogs

Stephanie M.

20 January 2025 3:26am

Hi Everyone - I'm quantifying home ranges and contact rates between wildlife, pastoralists, and domestic animals (livestock guardian dogs and livestock) living on shared...

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Constance Woodman

20 February 2025 8:46pm

What are your parameters? Do you need yes no movement, which could be collected with an accelerometer and no lat-long data?

Movement on an XY grid once an hour within a tightly bounded area?

High resolution once per second data? Large geographic area?

Different technologies deliver ddifferent datasets. Sometimes, significantly!

Fadhilla Golda

10 March 2025 11:37am

Hi Stephanie, at https://Savannahtracking.com we develop and manufacture a variety of collars with sizes ranging from about 95 grams for Raptors, 200grams - 1200g for mammals, and collars for large mammals such as Elephants. We currently have collars deployed on Dingoes which are about the same size as domestic dogs, and I believe that a similar solution will be perfect for your needs.
Our GPS collars can be programmed to collect high resolution data (15-minute gps positions) with hourly uploads via iridium satellite to our server where you can view and download the data from our dedicated windows or MAC SDM platforms. We also have a view only android/ios app. All our collars have two-way satellite communication, Internet based downloading via the free accompanying Savannah Tracking data manager software, automated Google Earth links for visualization, fully user definable geo fencing allowing for point, line and polygon fences and automated app and mail alarms in case of zone violation.

Kindly reach out to us and we can discuss a bespoke solution for your tracking needs at info@savannahtracking.com

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discussion

Conservation dogs deployed in Assam to counter poaching

John Probert

26 June 2017 3:33pm

Hello all!  I personally love reading articles about how man's best friend is contributing to conserving some of the world's most imperiled species. I just came...

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Jennifer Hartman

3 January 2020 7:13pm

Hi jprobert, my name is Jennifer Hartman and I work with Rogue Detection Teams. I wanted to share some other resources for you if you are still interested in learning more about conservatin detection dogs and thier applications. From live animals, invasive species as well as scat and toxin surveys, our teams have conducted a great many projects around the world and we're happy to talk shop with you. There are also several other detection dog groups around the world and if you would like to be put in touch with them, we're happy to assist. Please let us know if we can help. We can be reached at contact@roguedogs.org or you can first check us out at roguedogs.org. Warm regards, Jennifer

Georg Strunck

7 February 2025 4:27pm

Yes, Belgian Malinois dogs are very common nowadays to accompany park rangers in South Africa. 🐕‍🦺
The park I worked with had three of them, but training them is quite expensive, both time- and money-wise. 
Still, they are incredibly good and worth this effort. We had them walk along after fencecuts and they led us right past all the snares laid by poachers. Not to say how fierce they can be if things get serious and their handler lets them loose on a target...
They also help the ground rangers sense natural dangers like lions etc. earlier, or also while otherwise occupied (with eg radio etc).
 

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discussion

Collar Automatic Release Mechanisms

Patrick Chwalek

3 November 2024 8:14pm

Hi All!I've been developing an animal-worn acoustic and environmental-sensing focused system as part of my PhD. When speaking with researchers on piloting my device, one of the...

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Rob Appleby

9 November 2024 6:24pm

Re: the conversation about alternatives to knots/tying nylon line, I wonder if something like these PCB mount screw terminals would be strong enough to hold line in place for a long time, but also not sever it? They could be mounted either side of the nichrome coil, with holes for the nylon to come through from underneath, pulled over the nichrome and then through the screw terminal, where it can be secured in place. The metal screws could potentially be replaced with nylon to make it a little 'softer' on the line maybe? Below is an absolutely amazing diagram of the idea! Could even make a PCB for it all (or mod the current drop-off PCB to have this at the front)...the only thing is they aren't the smallest things in the world...so good for larger drop-offs maybe (certainly ok for AWDs I reckon) but not smaller critters...

Brett Muir

10 November 2024 4:58pm

I've been trying to find something off the shelf along those lines @Rob_Appleby

This is a cubesat example that's neat but not really meant to withstand the load an animal would put on it.

Seems like most tensioning examples out there are custom made but I'm convinced it can be done with off the shelf parts.

Regarding worries of damaging the line you can use ptfe tube or polyester/fep heatshrink for added abrasion resistance.

Patrick Chwalek

10 November 2024 9:00pm

The PCB mount terminals are actually quite robust and paired with a lock washer and something that would better secure the nylon (e.g., a piece of flat grooved plastic to add compressive loads across the string and not pinch it), I think it would work nicely. 

As a separate idea, I just designed a circuit with SMD threaded standoffs, which I am going to secure in plastic and screw onto aluminum pieces that I'll be testing the ElectRelease with once it delivers. The standoffs are mounted on a circuit board, giving a 50V differential with a single-cell LiPo, hopefully releasing the epoxied aluminum plates. 

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/w%C3%BCrth-elektronik/9774027151R/5320625
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article

New WILDLABS Funding & Finance group

Frank van der Most

5 June 2024 3:24pm

WildLabs will soon launch a 'Funding and Finance' group. What would be your wish list for such a group? Would you be interested in co-managing or otherwise helping out?

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Alex Rood

5 June 2024 4:14pm

This is great, Frank! @StephODonnell, maybe we can try to bring someone from #Superorganism (@tomquigley ?) or another venture company (#XPRIZE) into the fold!
Paul Edonga

6 June 2024 1:38am

I find the group to be dope, fundraising in the realm of conservation has been tough especially for emerging conservation leaders. There are no centralized grants tracking common...
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discussion

CollarID: multimodal wearable sensor system for wild and domesticated dogs

Patrick Chwalek

3 May 2024 1:42am

Hi Everyone! I (and my team) are new to the WildLabs network so we'd like to post an early-stage project we've been working on to get some feedback!  SummaryThe...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

3 May 2024 10:14am

Hi Patrick, 

This is so cool, thanks for sharing! It's also a perfect example of what we were hoping to capture in the R&D section of the inventory - I've created a new entry for #CollarID so it's discoverable and so we can track how it evolves across any mentions in different posts/discussions that come up on WILDLABS. This thread appears on the listing, and I'll make you three the contacts for it too. But please do go in and update any of the info there as well! 

Steph

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Scent detection dogs as a novel method for oestrus detection in an endangered species, the Tasmanian devil

Paul Bunker

25 October 2023 1:02pm

Detection dogs may provide a non-invasive way to determine female receptivity, but this has not been explored in captive wildlife. This exploratory study investigated the use of detection dogs as a novel method of oestrus detection in the endangered Tasmanian devil

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Researchers Using Dogs to Combat Spotted Lanternflies – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Stephanie O'Donnell

26 April 2023 2:51pm

By sniffing out egg masses, dogs are helping researchers against an invasive species

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discussion

Thinking out loud

Naomi

24 November 2022 2:21am

I am a scat dog handler and have been looking to add tech. into my odor training. I got a fresh idea of making a self-dispensing machine that automates when a small novice puppy...

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Harold Tay

11 February 2023 2:51am

Hi Naomi,

Sounds like exciting work!  I'm not a dog trainer but we did publish 2 articles on automating dog training, here about modifying the Treat and Train, and here.

All the best,

-harold

Paul Bunker

11 February 2023 6:19pm

Thank you for this exciting reply and links to the papers. I use an olfactometer that utilizes Arduino boards. It has been used linked to a treat and train, although my system provides sound feedback and I provide the reinforcements. I found these links very interesting! 

Naomi

28 February 2023 7:26pm

These are great materials to refer to. I just have to wrap my amateur brain around the technological words but I should be fine.  Thank you Harold. 

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event

Working with Detection Dog Teams

Stephanie O'Donnell

15 February 2023 9:49am

Jennifer Hartman and Heath Smith will share about working with scent detection dogs on wildlife conservation projects in their talk entitled, “Working with Detection Dog Teams: A Wildlife Conservation Methodology.”...

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These Dogs Are a Bird's Best Friend | Audubon

Stephanie O'Donnell

15 September 2022 1:13pm

Nice article from Audubon showcasing a variety of conservation dog projects: 'They can turn up endangered species, track down poachers, root out invasive pests, and prevent the spread of wildlife diseases'

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CERES TAG

Kim Lane

22 July 2022 3:36am

Ceres Tag sends just in time alerts and GPS location to have the power to track and trace.

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