The Four-Legged Weapon in the War on Poachers

When comes to fighting poachers, mankind has developed a lot of sophisticated technology to keep people from killing endangered animals to sell their horns, ivory, or other products. But, the newest weapon on the scene isn't new at all, nor is it technology in any sense.

In fact, the key word is "sense." As in, a keen sense of smell, standard equipment on dogs. Dogs, who can learn to smell out explosives, drugs, and a variety of other materials, can also be useful in stopping poachers.

The idea isn't necessarily a new one; we've known for awhile that dogs could do this, but the problem has always been an environmental one. It gets hot in South Africa, especially at remote border crossings and checkpoints. Inspector T.C. Oosthuizen, of the South African Police Service, tells CNN that smugglers and poachers "know about [the heat], so then they know you can't bring a dog to the border posts because the dog, of course, will burn."

Unfortunate choice of words aside, Oosthuizen's point is valid. The current system amounts to carte blanche for smugglers, if there's no way to sniff out which vehicles are transporting contraband, and a manual search by humans isn't effective. (Generally, they aren't. Poachers are pretty smart about hiding their stuff, and at busier border crossings, you would have innocent travelers stuck for hours.)

So what's a responsible government to do if it wants to crack down on poachers within their borders? Well, if you can't bring the dog to the scent, you can bring the scent to the dog. That's what South Africa is doing, in partnership with a company called Mechem. Mechem's process was originally developed as a way to detect landmines, while keeping explosive-detecting dogs and their handlers safer.

Here's how it works. You take a sample of the air (in a suspected minefield, or in this case in a vehicle), and you bring the scent to the dog in a safer environment. In this case, it means somewhere with air-conditioning.

It's a good idea, but it's not a silver bullet to end poaching forever. Consider the lack of real-time enforcement. If you've got to take an air sample, then somehow get it to a central location where the dogs await, it's going to take time. So, don't expect to see too many examples of South African border cops swarming a poacher's truck at the checkpoint. And, it goes without saying that, while most of us would like nothing more than to see law enforcement getting the bad guys before they slaughter an animal, Mechem's solution doesn't do that.

Where this system can work is in reducing the number of poachers out there, and indirectly, it will stop them before they slaughter again. With close to 190 rhinos killed in South Africa alone this year, the situation clearly threatens to spiral out of control. Remember that South Africa is home to about 90 percent of Africa's total population of rhinos, and that population is estimated to be as low as 21,000 animals.

Putting a stop to poaching takes a lot of different tools, including stronger government protection, and finding a better way to track poachers is just one part of the overall solution. However, this has the potential to be a very important piece of the overall puzzle when it comes to putting poachers out of business and behind bars.

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