Picture pawfect for International Dog Day

Based at Healesville Sanctuary, this specialised squad is made up of six pooches and three humans working together on the scent of extinction.

The Detection Dogs are trained to sniff out threatened wildlife and their biological traces such as scat in diverse environments across Victoria.  

Zoos Victoria Wildlife Detection Dog Officer Naomi Hodgens said the team works with a variety of different breeds.  

“When deciding if a dog is suitable for the program, we don’t have a specific breed preference, instead we focus on individuals with suitable behavioural characteristics,” Mrs Hodgens said.  

“We develop positive emotional bonds with each dog. If they are confident, motivated to learn and keen to work with us then this can lead to conservation wins.”  

 Meet the team 

• Moss = Four-year-old Labrador
• Career highlight: Discovering a new population of Broad-toothed Rats  

• Kip = Eight-year-old Kelpie-cross
• Career highlight: Locating sleeping Platypus within their nesting burrows  

• Finn = Three-year-old Border Collie
• Career highlight: Field deployment to search for the Critically Endangered Baw Baw Frogs 

• Daisy = Six-year-old Lagotto Romagnolo.
• Career highlight: Starting training to detect Critically Endangered Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon  

• Eddy = 11-month-old Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla 
• Joined the Squad: November 2022, starting to learn wildlife targets. Enjoys: Swimming  

• Sugar = Three-year-old, German Shorthaired Pointer cross Springer Spaniel   
• Joined the Squad: April 2023, starting to learn wildlife targets. Enjoys: Exploring 

Zoos Victoria’s Wildlife Detection Dog Squad formed in 2019 to assist with the recovery of some of Victoria’s most threatened species.

Visit zoo.org.au/fighting-extinction/local-threatened-species/