In Africa, Tracker Dogs Join War Against Elephant Poachers
It's all hands (and paws) on deck when it comes to the poaching crisis in Africa.
MANYARA RANCH, Tanzania—On October 14, tracker dogs led game scouts to a group of armed poachers who were on the run after shooting and killing a well-known old elephant bull just outside Tarangire National Park. This was the latest in a string of successes by Tanzania's tracker dogs, which are proving to be an effective weapon in the bloody war on elephant poaching in East Africa.
"Apart from their incredible tracking abilities, dogs are wonderful to work with because they don't have any political agenda—they can't be compromised," said Damian Bell, director of Big Life Tanzania, the conservation organization that manages the Big Life Tracker Dog Unit.
"Our dogs have tracked elephant poachers for up to eight hours at a
