Tracking dogs trained in Germany to detect protected wildlife in buildings

(Reuters) – The German company Deutsche Bahn (DB) is training sniffer dogs so that they find protected fauna in the large construction works planned to accelerate the projects, according to the railway group reported on Tuesday.

Until now, humans were responsible for finding the animals that should be transferred to a safer place while the works were carried out, but the dogs will take care of this task in 2022, after a training that should end at the end of this year, as reported by DB.

“The use of dogs in construction projects is a first for Germany. Thanks to their keen noses, dogs can find protected species at any time of the year and in almost any climate,” said Jens Bergmann, director of infrastructure planning at DB .

“This will help us start building faster.”

Train company instructors work with six dogs of different breeds, taught to sniff out protected animals such as crawling snakes, yellow-bellied toads, bats, rock lizards and agile lizards on the train tracks, DB said.

Dogs learn to recognize the scent of animals by sniffing out eggshells and shedding of fur outdoors, as well as in different weather conditions in an environmental chamber, DB said.

As the dogs explore the works, their handlers will record their findings on a tablet using a new digital data platform that will allow all project participants and regulatory authorities to have access to real-time data on the species detected.

The project is supported by scientists from the University of Innsbruck, the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research.