Ecological Monitoring
Ecological monitoring - finding where species live, how many there are, and what they need- is vital to many conservation efforts.
Conservation detection dogs can be up to 40 times more efficient than human searchers at developing population and habitat data: they can cover large areas and rough terrain, detect cryptic species and scents hidden in deep vegetation, and do it with virtually limitless eagerness and energy.
Human searches are often biased toward adult and territorial animals, but dogs find scats from all individuals, including juveniles and subordinates, giving better data and more accurate population and distribution estimates.
ECOLOGICAL MONITORING PROJECTS
-
BLACK-FOOTED FERRET MONITORING PROJECT
WD4C is part of a multi-part team with the shared goal of understanding these highly endangered animals
-
SAN JOAQUIN KIT FOX PROJECT
The San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica) is an endangered species that lives only in the San Joaquin Valley of central California
-
CENTENNIAL CARNIVORE CONNECTIVITY PROJECT
Our dogs surprised researchers by locating grizzly and wolf scats in places nobody knew they had re-colonized
-
LLOYD’S MARIPOSA CACTUS
The dogs are a tremendous asset helping to find this tiny and sparsely populated federally protected cactus in the desert
-
BLUNT-NOSED LEOPARD LIZARD
We’re learning more about this federally protected lizard in California than we thought possible thanks to our dogs
OUR DOGS
Our dogs are fast, efficient, and effective in finding what they are tasked with, making them a vital partner in conservation work.