Maddi and Rua waiting for their next instructions. (Photo by Joanna Sim)
Dogs can be a threat to New Zealand wildlife and can cause a lot of harm to our precious environment, but there are some “SUPER DOGS” that are helping to save it.
Joanna Sim’s two dogs, Maddi (8yr, Labrador) and Rua (2yr, Labrador cross), use their amazing noses to find birds like pāteke, a variety of seabirds including petrels, North Island brown kiwi and penguins.
Maddi and Rua had to be super obedient before Jo began training them for the bird work. They now work all around the North Island, in steep hilly country with thick vegetation!
The dogs are fit and strong and good at getting through scrub and up & down banks.
Last year, on a visit to Shakespear Regional Park (just north of Auckland), they even discovered a small colony of petrels.
To date they have found 18 grey-faced petrel burrows and 5 little blue penguin burrows which is really exciting!
These dogs are super passionate about their job and you can see them in action on Jo’s facebook page www.facebook.com/DabChicknz!
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.
You must be logged in to post a comment.