In Central California, a team of adorable, tail-wagging conservationists is helping scientists protect an endangered fox from the effects of solar farms in its habitat.
These rescue dogs, trained by Working Dogs for Conservation, help sniff out signs of the hard-to-track San Joaquin kit fox — a cat-sized, big-eared carnivore whose numbers have dwindled to fewer than 3,000 in the wild.
As Yale Climate Connections reported, these dogs use their powerful noses to detect scat samples left behind by the foxes in the desert valley — without ever disturbing the animals.
Since the kit fox is nocturnal and lives underground, it's elusive. However, this noninvasive method allows researchers to better understand the species' habitat and population needs and inform eco-friendly land management decisions in the valley, which is the foxes' only habitat.
"Just like the children's book says, everybody poops," Pete Coppolillo from Working Dogs for Conservation told Yale Climate Connections. "And so … we don't have to catch them. We just find their scats and that can tell us a tremendous amount about the population and how they're doing and how what we're doing affects them."
The problem these teams are helping solve is urgent. The San Joaquin Valley is a hub for solar farm expansion, which can bring clean, affordable energy to millions of homes and help us move away from polluting dirty energy sources, which include coal, oil, and gas. But as more of the land is developed, it's critical to make sure wildlife is not paying the price.
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So far, the team has found the fox is resilient in the face of these changes. "So that's a really nice outcome because it means we can do both — make our energy more climate-friendly and do it in a way that is wildlife-friendly," Coppolillo told Yale Climate Connections.
Working Dogs for Conservation is on a mission to harness canine talents in a way that makes conservation more efficient and effective. All the dogs are rescues, so not only has the group given them forever homes, but it has also given them meaningful work.
Plus, many of the dogs are cross-trained for multiple projects. These include tracking invasive species, detecting guns, finding poachers to defend animals at risk, and identifying harmful chemicals and toxins in the environment.
For anyone inspired by these four-legged eco-warriors, there are plenty of ways to make a difference in causes you care about. You can also directly help Working Dogs for Conservation by donating or volunteering your time or skills.
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As the group's Endangered Kit Fox Project puts it, "We are helping make green energy even greener; not only is solar energy carbon-neutral and infinitely renewable, but our dogs are helping our partners make sure that it's also wildlife-friendly."
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