Dogs: saving koalas from extinction

Alex Grenn '23

Arts and Entertainment Editor

Since 2019 Australia has been facing many devastating wildfires that have taken the lives of not just humans, but wildlife as well. Koalas were one of the many animals that were affected by these wildfires. Approximately 6,000 koalas were killed and over 60,000 koalas were impacted by the fire through either losing their homes or losing their food source. Pre-dating the Australian fires in 2019 and 2020, there were around 43,000 to 80,000 koalas left on the planet. But in 2021, the amount of koalas have decreased to around 32,000 to 54,000, making koalas a threatened species.

However, in Australia, a new strategy to help save these koalas is currently being developed. Dogs are now trained to sniff out koalas!

The most notable dog, having saved over 100 koalas, is Bear. Bear is an Australian koolie, who has been named a hero by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). He was trained at the University of the Sunshine Coast to detect the scent of koalas.

“He is always happy to give a paw to find koalas as part of the Detection Dogs for Conservation” said Dr. Cristescu, former veterinarian and Bear’s handler.

However, he is not the only dog who has been trained to save koalas. Another dog named Taylor, a springer spaniel, has also saved eight koalas, including a mother and her joey (a baby koala). While Bear was trained to smell koalas themselves, Taylor was trained to detect koala droppings. Although this has not resulted in as many koalas being found, training dogs to detect koala dropping has become the more popular route for dog trainers.

Dogs such as Bear and Taylor’s success in finding and saving around 200 koalas has inspired conservationists to look into training more dogs to detect koalas.