Auburn-trained dogs track snakes in Florida Everglades

[NNN0LHI]

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/02/auburn-trained_dogs_track_snak.html

Published: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 11:00 AM

By Hannah Wolfson -- The Birmingham News The Birmingham News

Auburn University researchers have found a new tool in the fight against giant snakes that have infested the Florida Everglades: a couple of bouncy black Labs.

The dogs are trained to sniff out Burmese pythons, which have moved into the swamps after being released from captivity and pose a threat to the delicate ecosystem there. In a pilot study, two dogs found 19 wild snakes, including one that was 12 feet long and another that was carrying 19 eggs.

It's the first scientific approach to training dogs to find the snakes, said Christina Romagosa, a research fellow at Auburn's Center for Forest Sustainability in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, who led the study and announced the results this week.

"We'd like to think that this is just the beginning of something," Romagosa said.

[handmade34]

1. this is good news

[izquierdista]

2. But until more funding is supplied...

Certainly more worthwhile than the funding given to Republican candidates.

[LiberalEsto]

6. I know what!

Let's train Republican candidates to hunt pythons in the Everglades,

Pretty soon there should be quite a few wandering around looking for something to do.

And if some of them get caught and swallowed, well that's life.

[MarkCharles]

7. Survival of the fittest snake!!!! n/t

[LonePirate]

3. Love this story! I just hope the dogs are closely watched as those pythons are ravenous.

[hlthe2b]

4. exactly... Their handlers damned well better keep those dogs safe...

I'd show very little (NO) understanding to someone who would be careless with their safety.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. As long as they keep the dogs safe.

[ellenfl]

9. the dogs are safer than the humans! they know where the snakes are. eom

[semillama]

8. Sounds like a good start - we need about a hundred more of these dogs!

"The dogs were taught to sit about 15 feet away from a snake when they found one. Even with that clue, the human trackers still struggled to find their prey.

"Their camoflauge is so good, the snake would basically have to move or stick its head up at us before we knew it was there," Rogers said.

Then the scientists would step in to bag the snake and remove it. Some will be used in further research in the Everglades, and the rest were killed; two were sent in formaldahyde to Auburn, which hopes to eventually put them on display. "

So, keeping the dogs safe, and removing the snakes. Fantastic!