Meet Laika, the wildlife keeper in the Rhodope National Park

Co-composer “Laika” is the core member of the new special detection team of poisoned baits of the Rhodope Mountains National Park (of the management unit of the Nestos – Vistonida and Rhodope National Parks).

In fact, “Laika” is a very intelligent Border Collie dog, who went through a special and difficult training to offer her services in the effort to rescue and preserve the wild fauna in the beautiful Rhodope mountain range.

With an official name Kynagon XMan Snowstorm, “Laika” was trained in finding poisoned baits (foles) by trainer Demosthenes Mumiadis and his active team and a few days ago she was delivered into the hands of her operator Kostas Kyriakidis, on behalf of the Rhodope Mountains National Park. It took a lot of effort, a lot of organization, systematic training, patience, persistence and above all the sensitivity of the state and all the agencies involved to protect the wild natural environment.

The new KYA for the protection of wild nature

The bodies that know how sensitive the wild ecosystem is in our country and how necessary the protection of wild fauna is, underline that the new Joint Ministerial Decision (JMA) of the Ministries of Citizen Protection, Interior, Rural Development and Food, Environment and Energy, is an important step to save and preserve the wild natural environment in general.

With the new KYA, the measures and procedures taken at the local level by the competent services for the management of incidents of poisoning of wild animals in the countryside are determined, as well as the procedures for investigating and identifying the perpetrators.

As the biologist Mrs. Elpida Grigoriadou from the Nestos, Vistonidas and Rodopi National Parks management unit points out, speaking to APE – MPE, “a Local Action Plan is planned based on which the contact points for its immediate activation, as well as the specialized actions undertaken by each involved entity”. The MIA emphasizes, among other things, that the removal of any poisoned bait or poisoned dead animal found in the environment is an immediate priority action, as it is a serious threat to biodiversity and public health.

The National Park of the Rhodope Mountains is one of the involved bodies that, in the context of the implementation and implementation of the new KYA, has set up its own special team to detect poisoned baits, consisting of the co-host “Laika” and her operator-companion Costas Kyriakidis. A dog and a man, who must work as a close-knit and well-trained team to accomplish a difficult mission, which is to locate poisoned baits that endanger every species of wildlife.

The motivations for poisoned baits

During this period, the dog and its companion are in a stage of adaptation and continuous training, in order for the animal to always remain alert. In the coming days, the environmental body will design a comprehensive plan of preventive controls in all its areas of responsibility. However, as Ms. Grigoriadou underlines, “beyond prevention, where the dog provides significant help is in emergencies, when a dead animal is found and the dog is asked to smell if it died of natural causes or if it was poisoned. It’s really impressive how effective a properly trained dog is in this process.”

The sad thing is of course that the cases of poisoned lives always remain high. This is due to the misconceived impression that those who put out the poisoned baits have, that in this way they provide a solution to whatever problem they have. “In most cases, the poisoned baits are supposed to protect livestock and beekeeping from large carnivorous animals, which in our area are mainly wolves and bears. But this is not the solution to the problem. It is a criminal manipulation and a wrong impression, beyond measure. Just a few days ago we found a pair of wolves dead that had eaten poisoned bait”, notes Ms. Grigoriadou,

Even the conflicts of various social groups (e.g. hunters and breeders) are a motivation for placing poisoned baits in the wild on the occasion of the concurrence of the dogs they have (e.g. shepherds and hunting dogs). But there are also those who poison a stray dog ​​and throw it into the forest. In all of the above cases, unfortunately, the action cannot be found in order to impose the sanctions stipulated by the relevant legislation.

The first special dog trainings in Greece

Only in the last eight years has our country understood the great importance of dogs in the protection and safeguarding of wild animals, thus paving the way for the special training of man’s best friend. As the dog trainer Demosthenes Mumiadis underlines while speaking to APE – MPE “until we started training in Greece in this area we brought trained dogs from Italy, Spain and Hungary”.

Mr. Mumiadis and his active team in Vasilika Thessaloniki have trained a total of seven dogs to date on behalf of environmental agencies (one for the Ornithological Society of Greece, two for Cyprus, one for the Rhodope Mountains Management Agency, one for the corresponding agency of Pindou and one is located at the school) with the main goal of detecting poisoned baits. As he points out, “for the first time in Greece, dogs are being trained by Greeks to investigate and detect poisoned baits (foles)”.

How does special education work?

Selected puppies grow up and go through special training, so that after one to one and a half years they are ready, adult dogs, who with their handlers are called to discover the poisoned baits that some unconscious people leave, causing great harm and a long chain of deaths in wild animals and birds.

As Mr. Mumiadis emphasizes, “the dog must search with passion and a clear mind to find the baits and point them out to its handler. The dog learns to detect even the slightest smell of poison wherever it is hidden. In other words, it can detect the smell of poison in whatever situation it is in nature. In fact the dog is trained always having a motive, a reward which in the given situation is the game.

In any case, training such a dog is not an easy task. It requires systematic work and proper planning by the trainer, patience and method, to avoid any mishandling that can lead to the death of the dog, because it may have tried the bait during the training.

After the dog comes the companion-handler’s turn to be trained for about a month and during this time it will be seen if there is chemistry between the animal and the human, so that they bond and become an effective team.” However, according to Mr. Mumiadis “the better the handler is, the better the dog becomes”, as “if the animal is properly trained and there is constant interest from its handler, then the success rate in detecting poisoned baits reaches one hundred percent”, while “let’s not forget that the dog wants to do right what it was trained for, because it longs to receive its reward”.

There are many breeds that can effectively do the “job” in the field of detecting poisoned baits. However, those breeds that show strong energy and activity and are willing to work are preferred, breeds such as Border Collies, Malinois, German Shepherds, Labradors, Sprinkler Spaniels.

“A poisoned bait search dog must have an excellent sense of smell, intelligence, strength, endurance and persistence in the search under all conditions”, underlines Mr. Mumiadis and adds that “for dogs everything has a smell, even those poisons that for us it is odorless, for dogs they have a smell” and “this is also the dominant element, the very good sense of smell”.

The groups active in Greece

The new KYA is a good opportunity for those who really love and care about the wild environment to become even more aware. It is comforting that in recent years organizations such as the Hellenic Ornithological Society – it had Kouki, the first poisoned bait detection dog in Greece who recently “retired” after eight years of action -, WWF and other environmental bodies are taking a practical interest .

The establishment and operation of special teams for the detection of poisoned baits throughout Greece (in Macedonia, Thrace, Pindos, Olympus and Crete) testify that proper and organized work is being done.

Both the older groups and the new ones that have been established (three through the LIFE program and five within the framework of O.FY.PE.KA. – Natural Environment and Climate Change Organization) send an encouraging message, that year after year something is changing in our country through comprehensive information, better education, voluntary action and above all collective effort.

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