Detector dogs partnered with WA handlers to fight dieback

Senator the Hon Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water

The Hon Matthew Swinbourn, WA Minister for the Environment

• Two scent detection dogs trained in NSW delivered to WA to sniff out dieback
• WA-based dog handlers were selected through a competitive grant process
• Dogs are new tool for detecting and preventing spread of Phytophthora dieback
• New handlers to work with dogs in national parks and conservation estate

Two new scent detection dogs have been delivered to Western Australia and partnered with their new handlers as part of a multi-state Saving Native Species project.

Milo and Kelly are both English springer spaniels and will be used by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ (DBCA) Plant Diseases Program to sniff out Phytophthora dieback on theconservation estate.

The dogs have been trained to detect the microscopic plant pathogen that causes Phytophthora dieback, Phytophthora cinnamomi. Phytophthora dieback is the greatest disease threat to the flora of the south-west bioregion of WA, where it is known as the ‘biological bulldozer’.

Following successful pilot studies by TATE Animals and New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, DBCA secured $1.3 million in grant funding from the Australian Government’s Saving Native Species Program to train and deploy dogs across the country.

The project included TATE Animals training two new dogs in New South Wales, for deployment to WA. The dogs have now been delivered to their handlers.

Milo has been partnered with Liam Brown of Glevan Consulting, which provides dieback mapping services. Kelly has been partnered with Megan Barnes of Detection for Good, which deploys detection dog teams for environmental and health applications.

DBCA is the lead agency for the dieback detector dog project in which teams of dogs and handlers willbe used to help manage threats to native plants in three States – WA, NSW and Tasmania.

Handlers will showcase the dogs at the forthcoming Dieback Information Group (DIG) conference on 24 September at Murdoch University in Perth.