Teno and Jama are the two Belgian Malinois shepherds that make up the canine unit of the Natural Environment Management and Security area of the Cabildo de Tenerife. She lives with his guidance and they train at the La Tahonilla Center. Its mission since the beginning of the year is to detect poisonous substances in the island’s natural spaces. Agents of the Civil Guard from the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of Madrid shared a working day with the island team to learn about good practices and action methodologies.
The use of rodenticides in protected natural spaces is a common and illegal practice that directly affects species typical of the island’s biodiversity. The dogs of the island unit assist environmental agents to identify and mark dangerous substances. After a learning period, Teno and Jama have already obtained their first results on the ground. In their work sheet they have the identification of several toxic substances deposited without control.
The Canine Unit of the Cabildo de Tenerife carried out a working day in the presence of the Seprona Unit of the Civil Guard of Madrid that took place in the area of El Caletón, within the Protected Landscape of Costa de Acentejo.
The Civil Guard wanted to know the work methodology and For this purpose, a demonstration of tracking dogs for poison marking was carried out. The collaboration with this team of the Beneméritawith more than 25 years of experience, has contributed to the Canine Unit of the Cabildo new ways of acting.
“The use of poisoned baits in the natural environment is one of the most harmful practices for ecosystems,” points out the island’s Councilor for Natural Environment Management and Security, Isabel García. She adds that “we are facing a serious conservation problem that affects endangered species of our wildlife.” She concluded: “Once the canine unit was set up, and hand in hand with the Environment agents, we began to obtain results by finding poison baits or even animal corpses that had already ingested them.”
Two outstanding interventions
Last February, during a reconnaissance for protected lands located in the border area between the municipalities of Tacoronte and El Sauzal, the dogs marked several packages of poison placed between the stones of a small wall.
A few days later, a second discovery was made, this time in the Corona Forestal Natural Park, specifically in the municipality of La Esperanza. The canine couple and several Cabildo agents They were beating a dense area of vegetation when the dogs marked some white jugs inside which there were several packages with poison that were removed.
In both cases, the substances identified were Brodifacum, Alfachlorosa and Bromadiolone distributed in pesticide packages that are usually used to control rats and mice in agricultural areas.
“The use of this type of poison is a non-selective and illegal method restricted to areas surrounding homes as long as they are placed in containers that are only accessible to rodents,” said José Alberto Delgado, head of Biodiversity of the Cabildo de Tenerife. He concluded: “With the actions of the canine unit we intend to advance in the knowledge and fight against the use of these poisons that put endemic flora and fauna in check.”
