For more than seven hours, Honeyguide’s wonder dogs followed the scent trail of the elephant poachers. Supported by a joint team of rangers, Rocky and Jerry tracked the poachers across the savannah, along steep ridges, and over hilly woodlands.
It was Valentine’s Day, but a day filled more with heartbreak than happiness. Earlier in the week, poachers had killed an elephant bull in a critical area of the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem. On February 13, some of Honeyguide’s key partners had called in our Dog Unit to support them.
After a five hour drive from West Kilimanjaro, the Dog Unit reported to the scene and soon went to work. Even though Rocky and Jerry had to wait until the following dawn, they took no time in picking up the odor of evil and following it to a definitive end.
It took seven hours, but the dogs led the rangers to a hidden stash of ivory, two tusks weighing some 58 kilograms in total.
“As usual, Rocky, Jerry, and the ranger teams did a wonderful job,” said Lembris Kephas, who leads Honeyguide’s Dog Unit. “I only wish we had sniffer dogs stationed closer to the area, so we might have been able to catch the poachers themselves.”
Rocky picks up the scent of the poachers
It is unclear as to whether or not the poachers had abandoned the tusks during a chase or hidden them for later recovery. Joint investigations, as to the poachers’ identities and whereabouts, are ongoing. Three other elephants have been killed in the area this year.
Honeyguide’s Dog Unit receives support from Big Life Foundation and coordinates cross-border conservation efforts with Big Life’s teams in Kenya. From November 2010 through July 2013, the joint Honeyguide and Big Life teams led to the arrests for some 1,030 poachers and the confiscation of 3,012 weapons across Tanzania and Kenya.
Our Dog Unit has become one of the most successful operations in the fight against poaching. Rocky and Jerry have served in successful joint operations in the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area, Burunge WMA, Manyara Ranch, Manyara National Park, Tarangire National Park, Arusha National Park, Kilimanjaro National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and other cross-border locations.
“The Dog Unit goes to show how a small well-disciplined team can have a big impact on poaching,” said Honeyguide’s Execuitve Director, Damian Bell. “New technology is critical but sometimes old technologies, like man’s best friend, still have relevance and are needed now more than ever in Tanzania.”
