Police K-9 Magazine - September/October 2010

As we walked deeper into the thicket the ground became squashy and sticky under our feet. The smell of death caught in my nose and made me feel nauseated. I shone my flashlight on the ground to see what was causing the strange transformation of the terrain underfoot and the awful smell. I realized I was walking on top of rows of half-dried animal meat laid out on top of fresh leaves.

As I shone my light around, I saw freshly carved up carcasses of zebra, wildebeest, and warthog hanging from branches and scattered on the ground. We found backpacks made of goatskin, packed with the meat of the freshly slaughtered animals. The dog was leery of the smell and hesitant to move between the carcasses. Because it was dark, the rangers decided it would be prudent to leave the camp and return in daylight to search for evidence and burn the remaining meat. We wholeheartedly agreed. We could hear the hyenas and who knows what else moving toward our location for a free meal and definitely didn’t want to be part of that action.

In the hours that followed, we briefed handlers and ran-
gers on proper K- 9 tracking protocol, the importance of
keeping areas as free from contamination as possible, setting
up proper perimeters, and allowing the dog teams to move
in first rather than as a last resort. It is difficult to introduce
a whole new way of capturing poachers and change the
thinking and traditions of experienced bush rangers. That
was not going to happen overnight. The program would
take time and patience to implement properly.

PHOTOGRAPHER: LINDA PORTER

Tactical Maneuvers

Over the next three days, we returned several times to the poacher camp to run training trails and acclimate the dogs to the strong smells associated with poachers and rotting carcasses. Next we focused on night ambushes. An ambush is an effective way to catch poachers at night while they are out collecting animals trapped in their snares.

It is not easy to ambush a poacher. Most poachers have spent years hunting in the bush. They are wary and evasive, they know ranger tactics, and they have a keen sense of the environment. They quickly become aware of anything out of place in the bush by listening to the animal warning sounds. Ambushing requires a lot of patience, a good knowledge of poacher practices, and the courage to walk through the bush at night without a light.

We crossed the Tanzanian border one evening just before dark in two patrol vehicles, driving to our stakeout location without any headlights and with our tail lights covered by tree branches. When we reached the ambush location, it was dark except for the full moon rising over the Serengeti plains.