Termite sniffer dogs to reduce chemical usage

AN AUSTRALIAN termite control company has resorted to using environmentally friendly techniques in detecting termites by training sniffer dogs. The are currently being used to detect insects and bugs on visiting foreign ships and they are reducing the need to use toxic, ozone-killing chemicals.

They are the perfect quarantine alternative to spraying the ship with methyl bromide which is a highly toxic gas that is used to spray all ships whether or not bugs are found.

The dogs are now used to inspect visiting ships at Queensland ports and are a preferred quarantine option to the former “first resort” method of spraying methyl bromide.

The CEO of Elders pest control which is based in Queensland said, “It’s strange because people totally understand that dogs can find bombs and drugs, but some can’t fathom using them to find termites, which actually have quite a strong scent.”

“As soon as I give people a demonstration with the dogs, they can see it works. Any skeptic is silenced.”

University tests confirmed that dogs had close to a 98 per cent success rate in finding termite presence while human pest controllers could only muster 45 per cent.

The dogs were sourced from a Beagle bloodline originally from New Zealand.

There is also potential to train the Beagles to detect other kinds of pests.

Termite Prevention: The first line of defence

Termites and the damage they cause is a pressing issue faced by many homeowners across the United States nowadays. This is because of the fact that once they get into your home, they are very difficult to exterminate.

Read More →