When you think of sniffer dogs, your first thought is likely canines trained to sniff out drugs. But sniffer dogs can be trained for many more purposes to help humans. Sniffer dogs have been trained to scent out everything from pangolins to endangered orchids. Now, sniffer dogs are helping researchers fight against the invasive lantern fly.
Sniffer dogs fight back against invasive species
Spotted lanternflies first arrived in the U.S. from China in 2014. Since then, they’ve spread quite a bit. Lanternflies are now common in 14 U.S. states. This has created a growing problem for farmers, whose crops are damaged by the flies. “It poses a major threat for our grape growers, where it’s already caused tens of millions of dollars of damage,” Michael Raupp, professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Entomology, told TODAY.
Now, sniffer dog teams from Virginia Tech and Texas Tech are working to fight against lanternflies. Researchers decided that the dogs are most effective when the flies have yet to hatch. The sniffer dog teams are trained to sniff out lanternfly nests, so they can be destroyed before causing any damage.
“We think what the dog and handler teams might be really useful for is preventing further spread so that they can go through and check a winery, check the vineyards and make sure there are no egg masses,” Erica Feuerbacher, Ph.D., from the Virginia Tech’s Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences told TODAY.
While the program is new in development, we can hope that these amazing dogs are able to halt ecological destruction.
Dogs using their noses in conservation
We applaud the dogs involved for sniffing out lanternflies – while they likely have no concept of the impact that they’re making, it’s nonetheless an important one. Dogs and conservation don’t often go paw-in-paw. In fact, our pets have carbon ‘paw prints’, and can be ecologically destructive.
But some individuals are making changes with their dogs. Similarly to the dogs in this story, sniffer dogs in Hawaii are trained to sniff out invasive plants. And a different set of fly-sniffing dogs is working to prevent fruit fly outbreaks in Australia. We hope to see more canine conservationists making a difference in our future!
