MP Forest officials train first dog squad to curb poaching

Forest officials of Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network are training five sniffer dogs in Bhopal to track down poachers. The initiative has been taken for the first time in the country in view of declining tiger population. The dogs are of German shepherd breed, also known as Alsatian. They are being trained for smell and search hides and bones of animals particularly tigers. The dogs have completed seven months of training at Dog Training Academy of Madhya Pradesh Special Armed Force (SAF) 23rd Battalion. The training will end this year in July.