South Africa recruits a man's best friend, the dog, to help save the lives of dozens of unicorns in a fierce battle in the country against poaching. Although dogs have long been used for security in the Kruger National Park, roughly the size of the Territory of Wales, the poaching crisis has given it a new role. Each dog is trained for rapid response in the reserve from birth on a mission appropriate to the strength of its breed.
Track the hunters
Fox hounds are equipped on the ground to hunt hunters, discover weapons and find stolen pods. This Belgian species of Malenoy, graceful similar to the German Shepherd type, is also good at biting and detaining hacker hunters. "All of these dogs can track wanted people, as the traceability feature is in their genes, and now they are defined on a human scent, like a drug dog that is," says the expert at the College of Wildlife in South Africa, where dogs have been trained since they were pets. You know drugs. ”
Game rules
He describes the use of tracking dogs as a "change the rules of the game" method, as these dogs are often deployed in groups, and they can catch hunters faster than the guards, while being tracked in helicopters. Employees at Kruger estimate that K9 patrols achieve a success rate of about 70 times compared to guards, depending on the breed, and the dog's sense of smell is known to be 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than the sense of smell in humans, and she can hear the voice four times more than humans Times. The dogs arrive at the college as a very small puppy, and they start training immediately. The strains used include "Tucson, Conn Hound, Malinoy, Fox Hound, and BlueTex", which are stimulated to free tracking, attack, monitoring, patrol, and arrest. Animals are usually deployed to the field when they are 18 months old.
80% of animals
South Africa includes about 80% of the remaining rhinoceros in the world, and lost more than 8,000 animals of this species due to poaching during the period between 2008 and 2018, and this number represents more than half of the group that was present in the country. Kruger and its adjacent private parks have become a center for tackling the crisis. The anti-poaching force in the park is now the most developed in Africa, but costs 11 million pounds a year. However, this investment has a positive impact: in 2019, illegal poachers killed 564 rhinos for their horns in South Africa, a decrease of 769 in 2018, and less than half of the number lost in 2014.
The guards were formerly employees of the environment, but their role became increasingly military. More than one guard of them has been killed across the world in the past decade, as they tried to protect animals from hunters seeking the tusks and horns of these animals. The value of illegal wildlife trade is estimated at about 16 billion pounds annually, with the increasing demand mostly from Asian countries that import the products of these animals as a kind of treatment and adornment.
Demand for rhino horns has skyrocketed in Vietnam, where dehydrated pods are believed to help treat alcohol headaches and treat cancer. Although it has no proven medical benefits, and has no value more than human nails and hair, or the hooves of horses, which represent this same substance, it is linked to social status. As regional economies flourished, their use by ordinary people increased.
• The guards were previously employees who preserved the environment, but their role became increasingly military. More than one guard across the world has been killed in the past decade, as they try to protect animals from hunters seeking their tusks.
• South Africa includes about 80% of the remaining rhinoceros in the world, and lost more than 8,000 animals of this species due to illegal fishing during the period between 2008 and 2018, and this number represents more than half of the group that was present in the country.