The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is using detector dogs to help find invasive Burmese pythons throughout the Everglades.
The new detector dog team is already up and running, with its first successful capture Dec. 8, according to a FWC press release.
GOOD DOGS: Truman the black Labrador and Eleanor the point setter are helping to remove invasive species in Florida as part of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s new Detector Dog Team. https://t.co/sVNzUwmeT5
— ABC News (@ABC) December 17, 2020
The FWC is using a black lab named Truman and a “point setter” named Eleanor five days a week to locate pythons on public lands throughout the Everglades.
Truman and Eleanor were in training for over a month to learn how to detect pythons from their scent. (RELATED: Dogs Used To Detect Coronavirus)
Detector dogs have also been used to find different animals, including bed bugs and sea turtle nests, according to the press release.
With other wild animals living in the Everglades, the dogs were also trained to ignore distractions while tracking pythons.
The two dogs are trained to get within around three feet of the python.
Once the dogs are within approximately three feet, the dog will alert the handler, who will come play with the dog as a reward while a biologist removes the snake.