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In this week’s episode Ricky and Niall have a look at the application of working dogs to wildlife conservation projects in Africa. Ricky speaks to Rory Hennebry owner and operator of Munster Canine and Lead Trainer at K9 Wildlife Project a charity set-up to train dogs for wildlife conservation operations internationally. 

Rory specialises in training working dogs for a myriad of technical roles and has used his skills and experience in training security and military service dogs and applied them to preparing their canine colleague’s for roles involving wildlife tracking and anti-poaching efforts in Africa. 

Rory’s insights span from the selection of dogs for such roles to how a young pup can go from playing in a Cork field to tracking poachers in the Namib Desert. Rory’s breed of choice for such applications is the Belgian Malinois, a breed well-known for its intelligence, athleticism and loyalty.

Finally we bring an African species into the fold for “Bird of the Week” with the Pearl-spotted Owlet nominated by Rory, a species he has encountered on dog training and handover trips to the continent. 

For more information and to support the K9 Wildlife Project see the website here:  https://www.k9wildlifeproject.com/ and/or follow them on Instagram: @k9_wildlife_project 

In Your Nature features Ricky Whelan, biodiversity officer with Offaly County Council in conversation with  Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland  and is edited by Ann-Marie Kelly. The series is supported by Laois, Offaly and Westmeath County Councils and the Heritage Council.

For more about BirdWatch Ireland, visit www.birdwatchireland.ie.