MidCoast Council
Dogs are not just our best friends but also one of our most able tools – and K9s are now being used in an innovative weed detection program by MidCoast Council.
The dogs are currently on the scent of the invasive Chinese Violet in the Forster area, supporting Council's biosecurity team to identify the weed in Council reserves, private property and National Parks in Forster, Tuncurry and Seal Rocks.
"Chinese Violet is a new priority weed that is at risk of taking hold in our coastal areas unless immediate action is taken. We are working hard to get on top of it, and the dogs are making the detection so much easier," Gerard Tuckerman, Council's Manager of Natural Systems, explained.
"This is the first time this invasive plant has turned up in Forster, Tuncurry, and Seal Rocks. We are working to remove the invasive plants, and the detection dogs are helping identify new plants and small plants."
Chinese Violet smothers and outcompetes native plants, reduces food and shelter for native animals, competes with crops and can smother garden plants and lawns.
"A K9s scent can be anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than that of a human, and with specialist training they are able to seek out weeds and seedlings, that are incredibly hard to detect to the human eye, which is amazing." Mr Tuckerman said.
MidCoast Council has several of these specialist hounds on loan from Indago Environmental for a few weeks to make a real difference to tackling Chinese Violet.
Any Chinese Violet that is found must be controlled with the overall aim of eradicating the weed from NSW.
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