We are always astounded at the variety of jobs that dogs are able to do. The canines at Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C) are no exception. WD4C trains scent detection dogs to help researchers monitor the health of wildlife, catch poachers, find contraband such as guns and ammunition, find invasive species and more. We caught up with Pete Coppolillo, the Executive Director of WD4C to learn more about how they are changing the world and how you can help. What does Working Dogs for Conservation do? As the world’s leading conservation detection dog organization, WD4C channels dogs’ strong sense of smell in order to protect wildlife and aid in conservation efforts. Pete explained that in the past, wildlife were monitored by catching animals, which is not only very expensive, but also inefficient. However, this all changed when they realized that fecal matter (scats) left over from the species could provide important insights into the current condition of these animals. According to Pete dogs are really good at this task because it’s, “an evolutionary way that carnivores leave messages to other carnivores.” He explains that, “nowadays we can tell individuals apart, who they are related to and we can uncover all sorts of other things from scats like hormones, stress hormones, reproductive hormones. We can tell if they’re breeding or not, if they’re stressed out and even their diets or diseases. So, the value, the amount of information you can get from a scat, just keeps going up and up because the lab techniques are so good.” Currently, along with sniffing out scats, WD4C also assists with anti-poaching initiatives, using trained dogs to locate poaching contraband, such as guns and ammunition, aids in finding invasive species in waterways and natural areas, as well as works to protect endangered and diseased wildlife. Committed to continual innovation, WD4C is always exploring new areas where dogs can work to make a difference. The possibilities are endless. How was the organization started? WD4C was started by four women co-founders who, “were all wildlife biologists, people who had experience working with dogs and all of them were working on species, mostly carnivores that were hard to work with, hard to monitor, hard to count”, explains Pete. After realizing the value of using dogs to aid in wildlife and conservation efforts, they decided to start WD4C which now in its twentieth year works in approximately twenty-five countries, on thirty-nine projects.   What is Rescues2theRescue? WD4C