On November 20, at a special passing out parade at the Basic Training Centre Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force camp in Panchkula, Haryana, the ninth batch of wildlife sniffer dogs passed out of the centre after a seven-month training course along with their human trainers.  

Fourteen Super Sniffers and their 28 handlers are now all set to join the war against wildlife crimes. 

The sniffer dogs training programme was established in India in 2008 by World Wide Fund for Nature-India and TRAFFIC-India (a division of World Wide Fund India that helps study, monitor and curb illegal wildlife trade). 

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To date, 88 wildlife sniffer dog squads have been trained under the programme at three training centres at National Training Centre for Dog, Border Security Force Academy, Tekanpur Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh; 23rd Battalion Special Armed Force Police Dog Training Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh; and National Dog-training Centre at Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp, Panchkula, Haryana.  

In a press release issued today on November 22, the director, Basic Training Centre- Indo Tibetan Border Police (BTC-ITBP), Panchkula Haryana, said, “This programme was carefully designed to accommodate both basic obedience and detection skills specifically to combat the illegal wildlife trade.”  

Expanding on the training imparted to the dogs, usually German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois or Labradors, the director added that the animals were taught to detect tiger and leopard skin, elephant tusk, skin, and antlers of spotted deer and sambar at the training institute. The dog handlers were also trained on working closely with their dogs.  

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In the process of training, the dogs and their handlers were put into real life situations in both forest areas and in populated locations. Besides that, during the seven months they spent at the BTC-ITBP camp, they were trained in conducting tracking and training activities in forests, checkposts, luggage areas, parking lots, etc. 

These trainers used small-sized wildlife articles to get the dogs used to detecting targets with low scent concentration in complex environments. 

The sniffer dogs previously trained under these programmes are already deployed across the countries and have taken part in over 400 wildlife crime cases, said Saket Badola, head of TRAFFIC’s India office. 

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The forest departments have had an overwhelming response to the Super Sniffers, Badola said. “It is further heartening to see that other agencies such as the Railway Protection Force and Customs are interested in deploying wildlife sniffer dogs. We are hopeful that in the coming years, wildlife sniffer dogs will be used by even more enforcement agencies, who are mandated to protect and conserve India’s wildlife.”

Three Super Sniffer squads will join the Maharashtra Forest Department; two will join the Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Odisha Forest Departments, and one will join the Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Forest Departments.

Two dog squads will be deployed by the Southern and West Central regions of Indian Railways under TRAFFIC’s newly formed alliance with the Railway Protection Force (RPF). Last year, RPF deployed two specialised wildlife sniffer dog squads for the first time in India to curb the smuggling of wildlife contraband through the extensive railway network.

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According to dog handler Vinay Kumar Sharma, Assistant Sub-inspector, Gujarat Forest Department, who passed out of the Basit Training Camp at Panchkula, he could not wait to be a part of a squad that curbed wildlife crimes. 

“The training started from basics and then moved on to the advanced training in these past seven months,” he said. Sharma is the handler for Topsy who is not just a skillful sniffer dog now, but also his friend for life, Sharma said.  

“The dedication and commitment of the wildlife sniffer dog squads are admirable, and the dogs have been a game-changer in the efforts against wildlife crime. We wish the best of success to the 14 newly trained wildlife sniffer dog squads in their mission to curb poaching and illegal wildlife trade,” Ravi Singh, secretary general and CEO, WWF India, said.