The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Conservation K9 unit has been behind apprehending succulent poachers, sniffing out the criminals stealing valuable plants.
South Africa (24 October 2023) – Reaper, Delta and Ike, together with their handlers Esther and Shadi, have travelled across the Western and Northern Cape to screen vehicles for illegally poached plants. They have been the reason succulent poachers have been apprehended.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust shared its pride in the team’s work, highlighting how important it is to find these criminals. Esther and Shadi along with Reaper, Delta and Ike have been helping sniff out succulent poachers in areas where the protected plants are at risk.
Reaper, who joined the team in 2021, has come a long way since arriving in South Africa. We shared the story when Reaper was just 18 months old and today plays a vital role in conservation.
“The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s working dogs have been working hard over the last few months to combat the increasing problem of succulent plant poaching in South Africa.
The dogs, Reaper, Delta and Ike- together with their handlers Esther and Shadi, travelled across the Western and Northern Cape to screen vehicles for illegally poached plants. The project forms part of a pilot study to assess the feasibility of the dogs in locating and assisting authorities in hampering the illegal transport and trade of these unique plants.”
The pilot project is proving to be a success! K9 Delta helped apprehend succulent poachers who had dumped over 1760 plants just before being stopped in a roadblock. Delta’s skill helped pick up a plant in the car, thus connecting the poachers to the dumped box of plants.
“During this period, the dogs were able to confirm the presence of poached plants in suspicious parcels and, more recently, assisted the police in the arrest of two poachers at a night roadblock. In this case, the suspects threw a box of plants out of the vehicle before reaching the roadblock. However, Delta, the detection dog, managed to find a single piece of plant left behind in the vehicle, connecting the alleged suspects to 1760 plants discarded a distance before the roadblock. This event showcased the incredible ability of our dogs to find even the smallest traces of evidence. As such, we hope to be able to roll out a much bigger intervention in future.”
Thanks to The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the succulent detection dog project has been funded successfully. The project has also received operational support from CapeNature, SANBI and the SAPS.
The K9’s success goes to show that they are the best team for the job.
by 