Rescue dogs sniff out poop to help protect endangered species » Yale Climate Relations

Transcript:

The endangered San Joaquin fox lives in an area of ​​central California where solar energy is rapidly developing.

To ensure solar farms do not harm the species, operators must monitor kit fox populations. But doing this is difficult. This adorable but elusive fox is nocturnal and lives underground.

So the job requires a team of experts – rescue dogs specially trained to sniff out fox droppings or droppings. The scat will then be sent for DNA analysis to identify the fox that produced the scat and determine whether the animal is healthy.

Pete Coppolillo works with conservation working dogs. His team has been monitoring kit foxes in the area for two decades.

Coppolillo: “Like they say in the children's books, everyone poops. So… we don't have to catch them. We just find their poop, which tells us a lot about the population, their behavior ways and how what we do affects them.

For example, the density of solar panels or how building practices affect foxes.

Overall, he said, he found Kit Fox to be adaptable to solar development.

Coppolillo: “This is a very good result because it means we can do both – make our energy more climate-friendly and do it in a wildlife-friendly way.”

Report source: ChavoBart Digital Media