 |
| Protecting Lewa and the surrounding communities' wildlife from poachers is the job of an elite and highly trained force involving radio communication, highly trained rangers, helicopters, airplanes and even bloodhounds! Since 1998, trained tracker dogs patrolling the Conservancy have proved a strong deterrent to poachers. The first two dogs, Bonnie, a German shepherd and Murphy a yellow lab were donated by the British Army and proved to be worth their weight in rhino horn. After their retirement Lewa acquired two bloodhounds - Tash and Toffee. Besides working within Lewa's borders they are routinely requested to help the local police or the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). |
|
|||
| The ranger places a special cloth on the footprint of the person they are wanting to track, careful not to contaminate it with his own smell. He then picks it up with a plastic bag and then with the help of other rangers focuses the dogs attention and smell on the cloth. |
 |
| As soon as the dog got the scent she took off a determined pace. Unlike the movies, she was completely silent. |
 |
| James and I followed as the dog lead us up hills, around trees, through bushes and across long grassy plains. Originally the plan was for James and me to hide and the dog find us, but we had gotten delayed watching lions, so they had sent one of the staff to be the "poacher". He had gone and hidden somewhere unknown to everyone. |
 |
| Suddenly, the dog veered sideways, and - there was the "poacher" lying in the deep oat grass, totally invisible! Lots of laughter and hand slapping all the way around. Even though he had walked a mile, went in circles, jumped from rock to rock, walked around trees and through deep bushes, the bloodhound went unerringly straight to him - quite a demonstration! |
 |
|
|
 |
| Here is a photo from one of Lewa's promotional materials. It shows all the "tools" that are employed in the effort to stop rhino and elephant poaching in the area. Don't you love the dog nose to nose with Charley?! |
|
fine Wildlife art and photography  |
