The world’s first koala sniffer dog has set up a work site in the New South Wales forest. Forestry Corporation’s regional ecologist John Willoughby said Oscar the Labrador was brought to the region to complement the extensive surveys of the local koala population already undertaken by expert ecologists. Source: Timberbiz
“Oscar the Labrador is the first dog in the world to be trained to track live koalas living in native forests, and this was his first time in the State forests on the North Coast,” Mr Willoughby said.
“When Oscar came across a live koala he alerted us by standing on his hind legs with his front legs on the tree.
“We’ve now mapped all the trees Oscar identified, and will combine this information with the rest of our survey data so we can develop accurate operational plans that exclude Koala High Use areas from harvesting.”
Regional Manager Craig Busby said Forestry Corporation of NSW is not complacent about koalas and has a broad range of science-based programs and principles in place to mitigate the identified threats to the koala.
“In more than a century of forest management, Forestry Corporation has successfully managed regrowth forests with thriving koala populations,” Mr Busby said.
