Demining Dogs in Colombia - A Review of Operational Challenges, Chemical Perspectives, and Practical Implications.

Within the framework of an internal armed conflict in Colombia, the use of antipersonnel mines by revolutionary armed forces represents a strategic factor for these groups. Antipersonnel mines are used by these revolutionary forces as a mean to hinder the advancement of the national armed forces in the recovery of territory and to protect tactical natural resources and illegal economies within a given area. These antipersonnel mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are not of industrial manufacturing, and have a variety of activating mechanisms as well as non-metal materials which make them difficult for successful detection. The Colombian experience strongly represents the current need for advanced research and development of effective field operations within its affected territory. Current efforts are focused on a more operational demining perspective in coca cultivation sites in charge of mobile squadrons of eradication (EMCAR) from the National Police of Colombia working towards a future humanitarian demining upon an eventual peace process. The objectives of this review are not only to highlight already existing mine detection methods, but present a special emphasis on the role of mine detection canine teams in the context of this humanitarian issue in Colombia. This review seeks to bring together a description of chemical interactions of the environment with respect to landmine odor signatures, as well as mine detection dog operational perspectives for this specific detection task. The aim is to highlight that given the limited knowledge on the subject, there is a research gap that needs to be attended in order to efficiently establish optimal operating conditions for the reliable performance of mine detection dogs in Colombian demining field applications.

Using detection dogs and genetic analyses of scat to expand knowledge and assist felid conservation in Misiones, Argentina.

Many carnivores require large ranges to meet their ecological and energetic needs; however, anthropogenic changes threaten species and their habitats. Camera traps have been used to effectively collect data on carnivores in a variety of habitat types; however, a single survey effort is typically limited to species that have similar body size, habitat use and movement patterns, and individual identification of animals is not always possible. We evaluated whether scat detection dogs could effectively survey for 4 wide-ranging felids that vary in these characteristics: jaguars (Panthera onca), pumas (Puma concolor), ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) and oncillas (Leopardus tigrinus). From June to October 2009 and May to August 2011, a detection dog-handler team detected 588 scats, from which 176 unique genotypes were detected. We assigned sex to 84.7% of the genotyped scats and identified 55 individuals multiple times. The effectiveness of these noninvasive techniques (detection dogs and genetic analyses of scat) not only opens the door for additional studies in areas that were previously difficult or impossible with standard survey techniques, but also provides conservationists with a set of tools that overcome some of the limitations associated with the use of camera traps alone.