By Dr. Carla Simon
Hunter’s Heart Scent Detection Training
Wouldn’t it be monumental if we could harness cleaner energy sources, curtail environmental damage and support conservation efforts? Wind energy is one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy sources and can help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. However, research estimates that the way wind turbines are currently being operated is causing anywhere from 450,000 to over one million bat fatalities in North America every year. That’s enough to stretch from at least Ottawa to Montreal. Further, as the demand for wind energy expands and turbines grow taller, their detrimental impact on wildlife is increasing.
Two of my certified wildlife scent detection Brittanys have been searching for bats and birds at wind farms to help save at-risk species. Spirit Bear and Andre assist scientists in monitoring fatalities to help reduce the environmental impact of wind energy, especially during migration season.
Bats are essential pollinators. They consume insects that damage crops and disperse seeds from our food. According to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, millions of bats have already disappeared, and bat populations are becoming progressively endangered. In Alberta, Hoary Bats and Silver-haired Bats account for more fatalities than all songbirds combined, but hawks, falcons and eagles are also significantly impacted by wind turbines.
Detection dogs are essential to wildlife conservation efforts to save Canada’s bats and birds. Detection dogs like Bear and Andre use their keen olfactory sense to search large areas faster and more efficiently than human eyesight can under similar conditions.
On a typical day during the field season, searches began at the access road near a wind turbine. While I dressed my dog in his protective gear, his nose would already be working. Sometimes, if the wind direction carried the scent plume to my truck, as soon as I lifted him down, he’d run directly to the first bat.
The soy fields surrounding the wind turbines were thigh-high at the start of the season, and the dogs bounded up and down, almost like running through snow drifts. At first, I could follow their location by watching the tip of their tail above the greenery. But the fields rapidly grew to the height of my shoulders, so the dogs were submerged. GPS and cell reception were intermittent, so I attached bells and a 20-foot-long line to their harnesses. I followed their progress like ripples on the field’s surface, travelling in a different direction than the wind. When they stopped to indicate that they found a bird or bat fatality (by sitting or lying down), the bell noise, ripples of the field and leash tension all ceased. Then I’d find the last place I saw my dog, part the leaves and look between my dog’s elbows to see what they found. I’d reward the dog for finding a bat or bird, place a flag to collect the scientific data and transmit it using my tablet. When tablets weren’t working, I made do with paper and pencil.
One day, Andre found a large pile of intestines, and I initially thought they might be from a large raptor such as an Eagle. There were no feathers or fur to help me quickly identify which type of animal they came from. Andre spent a long time sniffing them. We’d trained for distraction scents, but that scenario wasn’t one I’d pictured. I wondered if he might roll in them like dogs sometimes do in scents humans characterize as gross. He didn’t indicate, ruling out a bird or bat. Rather than tasting them, he made the correct choice to move on and continue searching. I recalled him, and we ran to my truck to play with his stuffed duck toy. I felt proud that he ignored a delectable distraction and chose to work with me.
The dogs find searching rewarding. In addition to praise, I paid well. Sometimes, I fed Canadian bacon, sometimes minnows; other days venison was the jackpot, and jerky was a hit. In the heat, I reserved toy play for the end of the searches when my dogs could hold their toy and rest in the shade.
Searching under the sun at 34 degrees (which felt like 38 degrees Celsius with the Humidex) certainly required cooling gear, tons of water, and frequent breaks for safety. But my Brittanys never let me down, and we all adapted quickly. For me, finding beautiful animals was disturbing at first. But the dogs enthusiastically ran from find to find, with seemingly boundless energy and joy that made it impossible not to smile. It was an adventure none of us will forget, and our bond grew stronger with every experience.
Humans exist inside an interconnected web of animals and plants that supports all of the life on our planet. The life cycle carries the blooming flower inexorably to compost and then back to the flower. But when we spend most of our time hunched over computers, our connection with nature seems more remote than consuming digital information. There’s nothing like running around with dogs shoulder-deep in the field to remind us of the importance and fragility of the ecosystems upon which our physical survival truly depends.
Detection dogs are indispensable to today’s wildlife conservation efforts, helping reduce the impacts of green energy on critically essential species at risk. Preventing long-term biodiversity loss requires improving ongoing data collection, oversight, and adaptive management strategies. Together with wildlife detection dogs like Andre and Bear, we can help save wildlife, one sniff at a time.
RESOURCES
- Learn more about endangered migrating bats in Alberta at https://www.albertabats.ca/wind/
- Safer Wind Power For Bats. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. https://wcscanada.org/about/our-programs/western-bats/safer-wind-power-for-bats/#:~:text=An%20estimated%201%20million%20bats,tree%20bats%20are%20most%20affected
- Mark A. Hayes, Bats Killed in Large Numbers at United States Wind Energy Facilities, BioScience, Volume 63, Issue 12, December 2013, Pg. 975–79. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/63/12/975/2365527?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- NWT Species at Risk, Hoary Bat. https://www.nwtspeciesatrisk.ca/en/our-species-risk/hoary-bat#:~:text=Hoary%20Bats%20are%20rarely%20seen,(13%20to%2016%20in)
