A pack of 13 sniffer dogs have been trained to fight wildlife crimes in all the national parks of the Northeast region. Wildlife crimes have been rampant in the national parks of the region and despite the stringent measures enforced by the authorities, the criminals have been proving elusive. In response to this, 13 sniffer dogs have been employed to watch out for wildlife criminals.
The dogs have been trained by TRAFFIC in collaboration with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at the National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) in Tekanpur, Gwalior.
The pack of dogs have a record of catching around two hundred criminals who were found guilty of hiding animals, their body parts and many other cases.
Out of these 13 sniffer dogs who also called super sniffers, nine are German Shepherds and four are Belgian Malinios. The dogs have been trained for nine months since April, 2017.
The dogs are specially trained to find out leopard skin and other body parts of animals, the possession of which is illegal. The dogs are stationed in Sikkim now to prevent the illegal trade of Yarsa Gumba, also known as the Goldrush or the Himalayan Viagra which is very much in demand in Sikkim.
The sniffer dogs will be accompanied by two dog trainer in each national park to take care of them.
After Sikkim, the dogs will be stationed next in the Kaziranga National Park of Assam. Reportedly, 19 states in India will be using sniffer dogs to curb wildlife crimes.