Biosecurity & Invasives

Biological threats—whether invasive species of plants, animals and invertebrates or diseases— have unlimited potential to self replicate, which makes them especially costly and dangerous. Dogs have a key role to play in "Biosecurity," whether through prevention, early detection, mapping infestations, or finding every last individual during eradication.

At every stage of prevention, management, and eradication of invasive species, dogs have a role to play.

WD4C has trained dogs to find Chinese bush clover in Iowa, yellow star thistle in Colorado, Rosy Wolf Snails in Hawaii, and brown tree snakes in Guam. Our dogs’ potential to find conservation targets is seemingly endless, and they have become an invaluable tool for protecting pristine habitats and eradicating invasive species where they have taken hold.

WD4C has also demonstrated dogs' ability to discriminate the scat of disease-infected animals from uninfected individuals of the same species. K9-based monitoring is likely to be far less expensive and much faster than traditional methods for monitoring disease in free-ranging wildlife.