In Your Nature
The In Your Nature Podcast brings you conversations about birds & wildlife, wild places, the work of BirdWatch Ireland and wildlife conservationists. The podcast features Ricky Whelan, biodiversity officer with Offaly County Council in conversation with Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland with regular expert guests. BirdWatch Ireland is Ireland's largest independent conservation organisation. Episodes are released in seasons (three per year) with six episodes in each, dropping weekly (Monday mornings) in spring, summer, and autumn. Topics discussed vary, with birds and wider biodiversity at the heart of it all, each episode finishes with the "Bird of the Week" feature in homage to this wonderful group of animals. To give feedback, suggest topics or ask a question you can email us at info@birdwatchireland.ie . The series is supported by Laois, Offaly and Westmeath County Councils and the Heritage Council and is edited by Ann-Marie Kelly.
In Your Nature
In Your Nature Ep 33 - Conservation Canines
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.