500 € WDD Project Grant, Winner:
Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences & IZW Berlin (Germany) “Comparison of ASP cadaver detection dog training, monitoring of training and certification testing”
In the battle against African swine fever (ASF), specially trained dogs are also used in Germany, so- called “ASF carcass detection dogs”. They are able to sniff out carcasses and indicate them accordingly. Since the strategies for the deployment and the requirements for the training of the ASF cadaver detection dogs are determined at the state level, different approaches are evident in the individual federal states. Within the framework of the bachelor thesis “Nationwide comparison of procedures for the training and use of ASF cadaver detection dogs”, answers to the following questions were worked out with the help of systematising expert interviews and written statements:
• In which federal states are ASF cadaver detection dogs trained at all?
• How important is the training of ASF cadaver detection dogs in the individual federal states measured against the financial endowment?
• Is there already a sufficient number of trained, operational dogs?
• Do the federal states cooperate with each other?
• What is the status of training and the and operational capability in the individual federal states?
• What strategies are there for finding new dog handlers and dogs in terms of motivation and incentives in the face of considerable amount of time and costs they have to spend? It turned out that ASP cadaver detection dogs are trained in most of the federal states. Only in the urban federal states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg there were no initiatives or concrete measures. Most of the ASP cadaver detection dogs that have already been trained do have gained experience in real operations. Differences existed in the individual federal states with regard to the training and deployment guidelines of the ASF cadaver detection dogs and in particular also with regard to the funding guidelines and financing concepts of the individual federal states. In some federal states, the respective state is the sole cost bearer of the training measures. In the other participating federal states, the costs are shared between the state and the dog handlers. Support services and flat-rate payments vary from one federal state to another. The results of this study show and suggest that for the effective use of ASF cadaver detection dogs, uniform procedures for training and deployment should be strived for throughout Germany in the future. This would allow expertise and experience to be pooled and synergy effects to be achieved, as well as providing uniform incentives for dog handlers to participate.
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