Booderee ranger with Steve and his dogs
At Booderee we are trialling an innovative new fox control program to conserve the threatened hooded plover.
World renowned dog instructor Steve Austin has trained springer spaniels to seek out fox dens, enabling fox control measures to be better focused, particularly for shorebird conservation programs.
We set the dogs to work on Bherwerre beach to search for foxes that may endanger hooded plovers currently nesting there. It’s quite amazing to watch the dogs work. They are continually running as they search for the fox scent – and respond to Steve’s every hand signal, voice command and whistle!
The program complements other longer term fox control measures at Booderee and proved so successful we shall certainly use the dogs again.
Shannan, Booderee National Park
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Steve Austin! Have a lot of business and professional associates who speak very highly of him. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Barkmate. We’ll keep you posted on how the work progresses. Thanks for reading.