Case Study - Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

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Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is a non-profit organisation based in West Africa. The project consisted of the supply of two canines capable of tracking and locating a live human over open terrain and a handler training programme to be delivered in the UK and Africa.

After initial consultation sessions over Skype phone calls. A five-day in-country familiarization trip was carried out to ensure the programme and training design would be successful. The purpose of the trip was  to inspect the local working environment and gain insight on the company culture. The recommendation made regarding the canines wear special protective footwear when tracking for long distance in open terrain to avoid injury was fully appreciated by the client.

Two Belgian Malinois and one Dutch Herder were selected for their boundless energy and confidence during the week-long selection process. The dogs were delivered within 8 weeks of award of contract accompanied with all export documents. All three canines successfully achieved the independent assessment in Africa as anti-poaching tracker dogs later.

While the tracker dogs settle into their new environment in Africa. The anti-poaching team leader flew to the UK to gain training and operational experience as well as obtaining a NASDU accredited qualification. 

The final stage of the project was detection dog team training. Four handlers and two dogs formed two teams during the thirty-two day training. The training simulated real scenarios of facing dangerous armed poachers and long tracking hours. Both teams passed the independent assessment and were accredited by NASDU.