When Darwin, the Labrador retriever, crashed out of a service dog programme for people, conservationists found him a very different sort of job — sniffing out giant African land snails that are threatening crops on the most visited of Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.
The pooch even has the perfect name. English naturalist Charles Darwin studied the archipelago’s endemic species during a visit in 1835 that helped develop his theory of evolution.
The gold-coloured Darwin and his pal Neville, a black Labrador rescued from an animal shelter, travelled in December from Texas to Santa Cruz, the island in the chain visited by tourists. The dogs were selected to hunt the mollusk, which is the largest species of snail found on land and can grow to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) long.
The dogs were donated by a U.S. organization called Dogs for Conservation, which trains canines to help people working to preserve wildlife. Darwin and Neville are still being trained, but have already begun their work sniffing out snails and their eggs, which are then removed by environmental workers.
The Dogs for Conversation website, which told of the unsuccessful attempt to make Darwin a service dog for humans, said he has found new purpose working in conservation. “He’s more than qualified to be a service dog to nature,” the site says. It says Darwin didn’t work out as a therapy dog because he was too hyperactive, but his work as a sniffer dog has helped him became calmer and more focused.
It’s the first time dogs have been called on to help protect the environment in the Galapagos archipelago. The 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve are considered by UNESCO, the U.N. educational organization, to be a World Heritage Site in danger because of risks caused by human development.
