Conservation Canines Help to Combat Rhino Poaching
On 22 September, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s joined countries around the world to mark World Rhino Day.
The Day has become synonymous with the plight of the white and black rhino as poachers decimated populations of this iconic member of the Big Five in the past 15 years.
It is during this onslaught that the EWT again sprang into action to save the pachyderms from extinction by founding and deploying our canine conservation unit to not only detect smuggled rhino horn, but also to track poachers within conservation areas.
World Rhino Day is marked annually to raise awareness of about the plight of the species, which has faced a poaching onslaught for more than a decade. South Africa is home to an estimated 79% of the world’s rhino population, of which approximately 2,056 black rhino and 12,968 white rhino are privately-owned. Since 2008, over 8,000 rhinos have been poached the country.
South Africa’s black rhino are listed as Critically Endangered and the white rhino as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Their biggest threat is the illegal wildlife trade.
The EWT’s Canine Conservation Unit (CCU) is a special project established to support the conservation efforts of the EWT through scent detection and tracking dog services. Our Conservation K9s are certified and specially trained to fulfil two critical roles. Firstly, to support anti-poaching initiatives in game reserves using tracking and detection dogs, and secondly, to detect wildlife contraband before it is smuggled out of the country.
Anti-poaching dogs are trained to track people, locate snares, find arms and ammunition, and help with the detection of spent cartridges at crime scenes. Our detection dogs are capable of detecting various plant and animal samples as well as poisons and thus have a wide range of possible conservation applications. We are continuously exploring new applications for our conservation canines to ensure that the EWT is recognised as an industry leader in the field of working dogs.
Our work began with the deployment of Rico, a Belgian Malinois and wildlife sniffer dog, at the O R Tambo International Airport’s baggage and car sections in 2012. This new member of the EWT pack was deployed to sniff ou rhino horn, ivory, abalone and other wildlife products.
The EWT’s Canine members have been deployed successfully in reserves across the country since…
The North West Province is a stronghold for Black and White Rhino conservation during these difficult days of declining national populations. With the support of funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we are assisting the provincial authorities to prevent poaching and grow their rhino populations for the species’ long-term survival.
Besides the use of cutting-edge technology to track rhinos remotely, and the use of real-time camera technology to strengthen surveillance of roads, fence lines and reserve areas to aid in the detection of poacher incursions, a key contribution is that of the EWTs conservation canine and handler team in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve to detect wildlife contraband and to track poachers.
Our conservation canines are stationed at reserve gates, screening vehicles for illegal wildlife products like ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, and ammunition. Since 2012, the EWT’s Conservation Canine unit has been a vital part of wildlife protection in reserves across South Africa. Focused on preventing illegal firearms from entering protected areas, our dogs have also been instrumental in stopping wildlife crime. Our canines have frequently been used to locate illegal arms and ammunitions and this year alone, one of our conservation canines flagged a suspicious vehicle, leading to the discovery of hidden rifles and the successful arrest of the suspects.
The Conservation Canine Unit team will assist Pilanesberg management until the end of September 2025. Having our scent detection dog, Kisha, at the gate will deter and prevent poachers from bringing weapons into the conservation area, and transporting illegal wildlife products out of the reserve if they have succeeded in poaching an animal. Weekends are very busy and the team search up to 60 vehicles in a day.
Tracking dog, Ruger, is specifically used to patrol fences and follow tracks of poachers when reserve boundaries have been breached. A key role for Ruger is to assist anti-poaching security to determine entry and exit points and routes taken by poachers, which is critical in guiding optimal placement of field rangers.
While the EWT is assisting Pilanesberg with a range of other anti-poaching activities, detection and tracking dogs are considered a crucial part of the anti-poaching arsenal to keep Rhinos and other wildlife safe.
In the nearby Madikwe Nature Reserve, the EWT has provided cutting-edge night vision scopes to the two canine teams, giving them a massive strategic advantage during anti-poaching patrols. We have also funded the installation of additional License Plate Recognition cameras at prominent intersections around the reserve. Any vehicles passing through these intersections with previous criminal ties will be flagged, with notifications sent to local law enforcement, as well as the North West Parks Board anti-poaching operations centre housed at Madikwe.
Combatting rhino poaching requires a coordinated, multi-pronged approach, the cost of which can be prohibitive in some situations. We are confident that our support to the North West Parks Board is having a tangible conservation impact, echoed by the reduction in reported poaching incidents in the province.