THERE has been a special four-legged detective working out on Montague Island looking for threatened sea birds.
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“Eco” the species detector dog has been working with Nicholas Carlile, senior research scientist for threatened island fauna at the Office of Environment and Heritage, looking for the threatened Gould’s Petrel nesting on the Island
This is first time a dog has been on the island for many years and special consent was required along with animal ethics and scientific licences.
The use of specifically trained detector dogs for location of cryptic seabird nesting sites of rare and endangered species has been applied in New Zealand for two decades.
A detector dog was first used in Australia on seabirds in 2010 when Office of Environment and Heritage principal research scientist David Priddel, the previous principal investigator on this licence, applied for their inclusion to this program between 2010 -2013, principally and initially for the location of burrowing penguins.
The dog in question is ‘Eco’, a short-leg springer spaniel, who applies the same ‘scent tracking and passive indication of nesting location’ technique to find concealed and protected petrel species within burrows, rock cavities or in dense undergrowth.
The dog is trained to follow scent trails emanating from the nesting bird, and carried on air currents, to locate the burrow or nesting site.
The dog is trained to sit quietly prone at or near the entrance. The dog is trained to not approach or attack wildlife and has been used previously in the presence of penguins, as well as endangered Brush-tailed rock-wallabies and Marla when doing fox den and cat location work.
The dog was in training for six weeks prior to deployment using scent impregnated cloth holding-bags collected from adult Black-winged petrel and fledgling Gould’s petrel.
Montague Island trial
On Thursday, March 19, species detector dog ‘Eco’ was landed on Montague Island, located just off Narooma on the Far South Coast NSW, with senior scientist Nicholas Carlile and volunteers Chris Lloyd and Penny Beaver.
They then walked on track to the isthmus that divides the 60-hectare south island from the 20-hectare north island.
A known active Gould’s petrel nest in a natural rock cavity is located at the base of the north island, just off the isthmus.
While on the isthmus, Nicholas prepared the detector dog for work by fitting her with a bell to her collar and himself wearing a ‘bum-bag’ with specific equipment associated with dog work.
The dog was then directed to search for petrels. The dog commenced searching among rock boulders on the isthmus but was directed to the vegetated edge of the north island.
After working the vegetated area, she led the following party to the area where the petrel was known to nest.
She scented the burrow location, circled around the immediate vicinity then turned and sat prone on the ground in front awaiting her reward, a ball being thrown, for her to retrieve).
Following her detection she sat nearby the party while the bird was extracted from the burrow and banded with a special band.
The dog was called to the burrow for photographic images of the bird and dog together and she did not react to the bird other than to briefly sniff the feathers. The bird did not react.
Eco’s collar bell was removed and she followed the party onto the south-eastern portion of the north island where a second bird was known to be breeding.
It was deemed not desirable for the dog to search the cliff area where this bird was known to nest.
When the bird was extracted the dog and bird were again imaged together and the dog did not react to the bird and was uninterested.
Later an area of tussock near to the second nest was considered appropriate habitat for petrels and ‘Eco’ was fitted with her bell and asked to search.
The dog spent 5-10 minutes being encouraged to check rock and tussock grass area.
At one site Eco indicated a scent within a tussock by sitting within the grass area after probing with her nose.
She was asked to verify her behaviour and walked around the tussock before sitting prone again.
A wedge-tailed shearwater chick was extracted from the tussock burrow but the dog did not respond to the larger shearwater chick in hand, which weakly flapped its wings before being returned to the burrow.
The dog then had her collar bell removed and followed the party for 45 minutes while other petrel sites where checked for birds, none of which had resident birds at the time.
During her movements around grass tussocks the dog disturbed three brown quail, one of which flew directly into the sky and away and the other two walked some distance in the open before disappearing into heavy vegetative cover.
The dog watched the birds on the ground retreat, but made no attempt to follow them.
After night fall at around 8pm, the dog joined Nicholas and a volunteer at a site near the light house which had previously known to contain petrels.
It was the intention to spot-light any arriving petrels to identify potential nesting sites.
No petrels were seen but adult wedge-tailed shearwaters were seen in the air, with one adult landing within two metres of where the party was based on an open rock.
The dog was free to approach the bird but apart from looking at the bird from a distance of approximately 1.5 metres, for a short period after it landed, the dog resumed general sniffing of the area without further approaching the bird.
Outcome of the Trial
It is clear that the detector dog will be a useful tool in locating petrels in future surveys.
The lack of reaction to both the target species as well as other wildlife on Montague Island shows that she is well adapted to a passive role as a detector dog.
Further training for non-response to shearwater scent will increase her effectiveness in species detection.
National Parks field staff on Montague Island were supportive for the dog’s return to the island at a later date as her impact on operations, including discovery tours and grounds maintenance, was imperceptible.
Initially, Gould’s petrel has been the target species with this trial on Montague Island off Narooma.
A request for an amendment to the ethics project: Ecological Studies of Seabirds and Shorebirds (AEC No 0211028/02) for the wide spread use of a detector dog both on Montague Island and other islands in NSW and elsewhere (including Raine Island, Queensland; Phillip Island, Norfolk; Keeling Islands W.A.) for listed species of petrels and penguins is also being submitted.