An Evaluation of Detection Dogs for Alien Mongoose Control on Amami-oshima Island

27 Mar An Evaluation of Detection Dogs for Alien Mongoose Control on Amami-oshima Island

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Abstract

English Abstract

The density of invasive alien mongooses on Amami-oshima Island has recently been controlled to a low level by trapping. Aiming for eradication, three dogs were specially trained to detect the location of the animals to improve the efficiency of trapping. The detection efficiency of the dogs was higher than the efficiency of sensor cameras and pipe-type kill traps in each area, which had different mongoose densities. It was also significantly higher in high density areas (p<0.05) and higher than those methods plus hair traps in lower density areas. Dogs could also contribute to capture by handlers. The capture rates of the dog handlers were lower than those of the pipe traps in higher densities areas. However, a mongoose was caught by a dog handler in an area where none had been caught in the past five years. It was revealed that detection dogs are a sensitive means that have the potential for capture by the handler. While it takes a few years to train a detection dog. The area that one pair of a detection dog and a handler could scan thoroughly in a year was estimated at 16-28 km^2. The utilization of detection dogs preferentially in extremely low density areas is considered to be efficient.