Into Battle: Man's Best Friend

Tony, Tiba, Toffee and Tash are a crack K9 patrol of bloodhounds working on the front lines of the poaching battle in Kenya.

With elephant and rhino poaching now in the hands of organized crime the war is high tech.  Drones, helicopters and Google earth are among sophisticated combat tools.  However man’s best friend has a role. There is still a need for paws on the ground.

I visited these professionals on the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.  I wanted to see them at work.  Before I got out of the Land Rover Tony was on his hind legs with a large soft chestnut-colored paw through the netting of his pen in greeting. These are not attack dogs. The work of Bloodhounds is tracking. It is fun for them and they excel.

With three handlers we set off to track a quarry. A footprint of a poacher is all that is needed. One handler played poacher. A piece of sterile gauze was placed over his footprint, then taken to Tony for him to get the scent and we were off.

Tony was focused and fast. I was trying to take notes and photographs which was a challenge as he raced through the knee-high grass and brush. He did some circles and some back-tracking which enabled me to catch up. Favorite hiding places for poachers are trees and warthog dens. Toby has seen and tracked it all. We were off again, even faster this time.  Then, success.

Tony was on his hind legs with his huge paws on the shoulders of the “poacher” who was hidden in a dense thicket. There was no escape for the quarry. Tony got a treat and let go. He seemed to be smiling.

Of the four blood hounds at Lewa Tony and Tibia are males and Toffee and Tash females.  They live in large grassy pens and are taken in at night to protect them from predators. Their diet is rice and meat.

Bloodhound training begins at 7 months.  They begin work after 9 months and are perfect at 12. They train daily with rotating handlers to learn different scents. They work for 8 to 10 years then retire.

This team at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, close to the lawless Somali border, is sometimes borrowed and deployed by Kenyan police. They are used to track robbers and criminals. In crowded situations they are especially good as they are  friendly and non-threatening.  Its all about nose to the ground and getting the job done.

I was impressed. This quartet of consummate professionals is highly trained and effective.  When I drove out of the compound they all galloped to the end of their pens in a farewell gesture. Man’s (and women’s) best friends to be sure.