Don't Miss

South African dogs battle rhino poaching

By on March 5, 2012

South African sniffer dogs have been used to combat rhino poaching and smuggling of elephant tusks, a new report has revealed.

According to SABC the sniffer dogs were able to uncover a major drug smuggling operation in Benin. The dogs were trained and installed at ports and airfields to battle the drugs trade and illegal materials.

According to Dr Hannes Slabbrt at the Mechem training facility in Pretoria the dogs are more effective than x-ray systems and very efficient.

Slabber said, “We are very proud of our track record, our training and expertise in the field – and we are also very involved in this rhino poaching.”

“We supply dogs to private game reserves and we are working towards supplying quite a few dogs to other entities as well as to stop this, so we are not only looking at drugs and explosives but also the rhino poaching and the elephant tusk problem.”

Denel group CEO, Talib Sadik, is focusing his company’s technology, human and canine resources at the disposal of anti-poaching initiatives.

Sadik explained, “We have some of the most sophisticated technology in the world and at least three of our business entities can help stop rhino poaching – Mechem for their sniffer dogs, Carl Zeiss Optronics, for its powerful ‘eye-in-the-sky’ technology and Denel Dynamics for their unmanned aerial vehicles.”

The illegal wildlife trade is becoming more and more sophisticated, which is making it more and more difficult to regulate trade in ivory and rhino horn.

Mail&Guardian

About AfricaTimes

One Comment

  1. Pingback: Your Questions About Kruger Park | Kruger Park tours from the US

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.