Using Detection Dogs to Monitor Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Protect Aquatic Resources

384 Pages·2018·14.85 MB·English

by  Ngaio L. Richards

Edited by Ngaio L. Richards
USING DETECTION
to
DOGS MONITOR
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
and
HEALTH PROTECT
AQUATIC RESOURCES
Using Detection Dogs to Monitor Aquatic
Ecosystem Health and Protect Aquatic Resources
Ngaio L. Richards
Editor
Using Detection
Dogs to Monitor
Aquatic Ecosystem
Health and Protect
Aquatic Resources
Editor
Ngaio L. Richards
Bozeman, MT, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-77355-1 ISBN 978-3-319-77356-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77356-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018944285
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Ngaio L. Richards/Working Dogs for Conservation
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International
Publishing AG part of Springer Nature.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to Wibaux, who departed from this world in 2013,
aged nine. She was a veteran search dog who bridged the gap between the
aquatic and terrestrial worlds and who also made a significant contribution
to conservation detection.
Friendly and personable, she was true to her nose, versatile, and willing to
do anything asked of her. A handler could not have asked for a better
canine partner.
Epigraph
Both dogs and children possess an innate ability to cut to the heart of a
matter in a straightforward way. I don’t think for a moment that anyone
would question the importance of the information presented in this book
or puzzle over the reasons one would engage in this work. But the subject
is infused with complexity, nuance, and challenges, and so I sought an
anchor that would keep us from drifting too far away from our core
motivations.
On a cold wintry evening in early December, 2017, I drove over to
Arlee Elementary School with my primary canine partner Orbee. My
colleague Amanda Berens and her two little children joined us there. I
had learned from a friend who occasionally teaches poetry at the school
that the students had previously been asked to express their thoughts
about water in writing, and so my idea was to assemble a Forword for the
book based on conversations with elementary school children about what
clean water means to them, their families, and their community. Grade 5
teacher Ronda Howlett welcomed us into her classroom to brainstorm
ideas on how to achieve this.
While we talked, Amanda’s children played with multi-colored blocks,
gazed at the fish tank, and occasionally dropped little cookies on the
floor. Orbee nosed us from under the table. Mrs. Howlett showed us the
poems the students had written about water, printed out individually
onto large pieces of blue cardboard cut in the shape of a droplet. Their
vii
viii Epigraph
words were captivating. She also pointed out clay models of realistic look-
ing carnivore scat, or ‘droppings’ that were drying on paper plates behind
the radiator. The children had made these models after visiting MPG
Ranch in Florence, Montana, where they learned about different ways of
tracking and monitoring wild animals. I told her that Orbee was trained
to find many types of scat, including that of otter, mink, and wolverine.
He uttered a perfectly-timed deep sigh after I said this.
Amanda is an extremely capable young woman, with experience in
environmental journalism and environmental monitoring. She proposed
setting a water-themed art project for the children, which could then
form the basis of a conversation. We duly pulled together a list of themes
they might touch on. The next week, on an even colder afternoon,
Amanda visited three Grade 5 classes at the school. The children pro-
duced beautiful, vivid images and appeared engaged. But getting them to
talk more about water themes, and what water meant to them proved to
be tricky. They listened attentively when Amanda spoke about her experi-
ences but were shy to share their own with her one on one.
We conferred about the art sessions and how they had gone. I pon-
dered how I personally feel about this issue and found myself incapable
of articulating anything sensible, despite feeling very strongly about it.
Then I laughed at myself for trying to elicit spontaneous responses
through contrived means and for making things far more complicated
than they needed to be. The children had already more than clearly
expressed their thoughts and feelings in the poems. So, I obtained per-
mission to share highlights from several of these, which the reader will
find interspersed between chapters.
Editor’s Preface
This book was developed to generate awareness of the emerging and still
expanding ways that dogs are being used to protect aquatic ecosystems
and organisms around the world. My own underlying objective was to
convey that there are a range of perspectives and approaches to working
with dogs, partnering them with handlers, and incorporating them into
current conservation and monitoring efforts—not only from an aquatic
context but also in general. I am very lucky to work for an established
conservation detection dog group. And in that capacity, I was and con-
tinue to be apprenticed as a dog handler—a humbling lifelong learning
experience—and mentored based on certain specific approaches and
techniques favored by this group. But in my role as editor it would be
presumptuous to promote any particular application of dogs or related
training methods and approaches. Instead, my intention when connect-
ing with people and gathering information for this book was to learn as
much as possible about a subject I feel immensely passionate about, and
help bring to light these topics and initiatives, framed with enough back-
ground information for readers to reach their own conclusions, for their
own purposes.
There is a wealth of knowledge out there, but some of it is locked away
inside people’s brains or gathering dust behind stacks of papers and a
desiccated potted plant on someone’s desk. Not everyone is fond of
ix
x Editor’s Preface
writing or has an aptitude for contorting their words into an academic
template. I fear that a lot of valuable information and findings are not
shared because of this. As I tell the students who take my Critical
Thinking course, scientific papers are not the sole sources of viable infor-
mation, and there is much to be gained from anecdotal accounts and
stories. The point is to develop the ability to find and ingest the available
information and data, then make a considered and judicial assessment of
it. But if that information is not being shared, it is not available for
people to ponder, or deconstruct, or build upon. For this and other rea-
sons, I want to extend special gratitude to the contributors who are
reluctant writers, for having the generosity and tenacity to share their
knowledge in this book.
Along these same lines, there is a tendency to disseminate information
and descriptions about initiatives that were irrefutably successful or
showed obvious promise, and a corresponding reluctance to mention any
that were not. Inevitably, there are applications that are simply not appro-
priate or practical uses of dogs. Alternately, dogs may be proficient at
certain stages or progressions of a trial but not others, or results obtained
in a controlled setting may not have ‘real-world’ utility. Yet even when a
proof of concept study using dogs didn’t go to plan, a clear description of
the study’s objectives and steps with a frank assessment of what did not
work well may save others valuable time and resources or stimulate ideas
and approaches that could be further—and more successfully—devel-
oped. If the information is not disseminated in any format or made avail-
able through any avenue, then application will certainly not go anywhere
or attract any further interest.
As a fresh-faced student about to embark on a Master’s study to inves-
tigate pesticide exposure risks in Screech-owls inhabiting apple orchards
of southern Québec, Canada, I would have been sunk without the hand-
son naturalists—many of them self-taught—who mentored me in the
field. I will never forget the frustrations, the bitterly cold winter nights,
mosquito-infested summer mornings, and uproarious laughter—but
above all, I remember the pleasure of learning in this very applied, col-
laborative way.
Editor’s Prefac e xi
Thanks to all who contributed to this book and collaborated with me.
To all those working diligently in the background, we see and acknowl-
edge your role in moving this field forward.
Bozeman, MT, USA Ngaio L. Richards