Sniffing Out Pythons: Dogs Being Used To Track Invasive Burmese Pythons

click to expand

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is adding a new way to help find invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

They have established their new Detector Dog Team. It is now up and running, and its goal is to remove Burmese pythons from the wild.

Detector dogs have trained to find many animals, from bed bugs to sea turtle nests and now they are being used to sniff out Burmese pythons.

Two dogs, in particular, Truman and Eleanor trained for over a month to earn their spot on the Detector Dog team. They have learned how to track these serpents by using scent signals and to alert dog handlers when they find one. The dogs were also trained to avoid distractions, like other live animals when working in an outdoor environment, and worked on building up their stamina so they don't tire easily.

Recently on December 8, 2020, the Detector Dog Team successfully captured and removed an 8-foot male python in the Rocky Glades Public Small Game Hunting Area in Miami-Dade County.

For more information, click here.